BAGHDAD, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Unknown gunmen kidnapped more than 20 aid personnel working for the Iraqi Red Crescent from their office in central Baghdad on Sunday, and Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

    "Gunmen wearing police commando uniforms and riding between eight to ten sport utility vehicles kidnapped some 20 to 30 employees and visitors of the Iraqi Red Crescent office in Karrada district," the source said on condition of anonymity.

    The attackers separated the women and dragged the men into a hall before they abducted them, the source said.

    The Iraqi Red Crescent aid group has some 1,000 personnel and about 100,000 volunteers across Iraq. The group is working in Iraq in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, visiting detainees and providing aids to Iraqis.

    Mass kidnappings in broad daylight have been frequently occurred in the war-wracked Iraq, even in the populous downtown areas of the capital.

    On Thursday, gunmen with full equipment of Iraqi police commando snatched more than 30 people from the commercial area of Sinak in central Baghdad.

    On Nov. 14, a similar force of gunmen stormed the Iraqi Higher Education Ministry's Research Directorate building in the Nidhal Street in Karrada district, kidnapping more than 100 male employees. Most of them were released but some were either found killed or still missing.