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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.
80 hostages in mass abduction still
held
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."
Iraqi PM pledges to arrest kidnappers
of ministry employees
BAGHDAD, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki pledged Wednesday to arrest all those carried out kidnappings in
Baghdad within the "open battle with terrorists."
"We feel sorry to what happened yesterday, but I pledge
that we will trail those who put their hands in the hands of the devil," Maliki
told a gathering at a Baghdad university.
Iraqi official says most hostages
released
BEIJING,
Nov. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Officials still don't have a clear count of how many
Iraqis were kidnapped on Tuesday by up to 80 gunmen disguised as Iraqi National
Police from a Baghdad research institute, but an Interior Minstry official on
Wednesday said most have been released, according to a CNN report.
The official's statement was reinforced by a
Al-Iraqiya station television report that also said most of the hostages had
been released. The official said none of the hostages had been killed or
tortured. Initial estimates were that 100 to 150 people were abducted, but that
figure was reduced later.
Higher Education Minister Abed Dhiyab al-Ajili, who
personally reported the abduction to the Iraq Parliament shortly after it took
place on Tuesday, has closed the nation's universities until security measures
can be improved.
 Mass kidnap by gunmen in Baghdad
BEIJING, Nov. 15 -- Gunmen wearing uniforms of the
Iraqi police commando units have rounded up dozens of men at a government
building in central Baghdad. They then drove off. This may be the biggest mass
kidnapping in a city increasingly used to such violence.
Gunmen abduct up to 150 Iraqi government staff in
Baghdad
BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Gunmen wearing Iraqi
police commando uniforms stepped up pressure on the country's educational system
Tuesday by kidnapping up to 150 staff members from a government research
institute in downtown Baghdad, according to the head of the parliamentary
education committee.
Alaa Makki interrupted a parliamentary session to announce
between 100 and 150 people, both Shiites and Sunnis, had been abducted in the
9:30 a.m. raid. He urged the prime minister and ministers of interior and
defense to rapidly respond to what he called a "national catastrophe." Makki
added that he will close universities until security improves.
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