Special report:Tension escalates in Iraq   

Iraqi deputy health minister Ammar al-Saffar (L) and the acting Japanese ambassador in Iraq (C) walk out of the medical city hospital where the bodies of two Japanese journalists were being stored in Baghdad in this May 30, 2004 file photograph. Gunmen in camouflage uniforms kidnapped Saffar from his home on Sunday, the day after another prominent Shi'ite politician was shot dead amid brewing sectarian strife. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq's deputy health minister was kidnapped from his home in Baghdad on Sunday by unidentified gunmen in army uniforms, media reports said Monday.

    Ammar al-Saffar, deputy health minister in the government of prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, was kidnapped at approximately 17:30 local time (14:30 GMT), shortly after sunset.

    Reports suggest that at least 20 gunmen were present in the raid, some possibly dressed as state police, and that they arrived in at least five vehicles. Saffar survived a previous assassination attempt in 2004.

    "Gunmen came in four cars and kidnapped the minister from his home in Adhamiyah," the source said.

    Meanwhile, Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moualem is paying his government's first visit to Iraq since the 2003.

    Walid al-Moualem's visit is seen as significant because it signals a willingness on the part of the Syrian government to engage more closely in the fate of its troubled neighbour.

    Earlier Sunday at least 22 construction labourers died in the town of Hilla after a car bomb exploded as they queued for work.

    The blast occurred at around 07:00 local time (04:00 GMT) as workers waited to be employed in the Bab al-Hussein area of Hilla, a town about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

    Forty-nine people were wounded in the bombing, which involved the attacker arriving at the scene in a minibus or minivan packed with explosives. The workers gathered around the vehicle before it blew up, according to media reports.

    "The sudden explosion shook the whole area and shattered the windows of a store I was standing outside of nearby," Muhsin Hadi Alwan, a wounded labourer, told reporters.

    "The ground was covered with the remains of people and blood, and survivors ran in all directions."

    (Agencies)