Special report: Tension escalates in
Iraq
BAGHDAD,
Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Eighty hostages kidnapped at the building of the Higher
Education Ministry on Tuesday are still held, Minister Abed Thiyab al-Ajili said
on Thursday.
The minister told the state television that 70 of 150
hostages were released, saying those freed "were tortured."
Al-Ajili, a Sunni Arab, also reaffirmed that he would
continue the suspension of his job in the Shiite-dominated government until the
rest were released.
Earlier, a spokesman for the ministry told reporters
that kidnappers tortured and killed some of the captives.
"According to the released captives, some of hostages
were tortured and killed," Basil al-Khatib said.
Al-Khatib did not say how many people were killed,
but he said that the released people themselves were tortured.
On Wednesday, he said that up to 70 people have been
released.
However, the government gave different hostage
numbers.
An Interior Ministry official told Xinhua on
Wednesday that the number of hostages in the hands of kidnappers was
exaggerated.
"About 20 out of some 45 hostages have been released
until midnight, including the deputy director of the ministry's Research
Directorate," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Another 20 abducted in Baghdad, up to
100
BAGHDAD, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified gunmen stormed
as mall coffee shop in central Baghdad late Thursday, kidnapping 15 to 20
customers, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.
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