Sunday, December 17, 2006.

'Dozens' kidnapped at Baghdad Red Crescent office

Gunmen in police uniforms have kidnapped dozens of people at a Baghdad branch of the Red Crescent, as British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in the capital to meet Iraq's embattled leaders.

Witnesses and a Red Crescent official say the gunmen stormed the office in central Karrada in pick-up trucks, separated men from women and then took off with about 25 male employees, visitors and private security guards.

Police say between 10 and 20 people have been kidnapped.

Baghdad is plagued by daily kidnappings, both political and criminal.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Government is struggling to contain soaring sectarian tension and daily violence that the United Nations estimates kills more than 100 people a day.

Mr Blair has arrived in Baghdad to lend support to the Iraqi Government, which is under pressure from Washington to do more to stem violence between Shiites and Sunni Arabs.

The Iraq stop-over forms part of a Middle East tour aimed at helping to break a deadlock between Palestinian factions and nudge forward the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Mr Blair sees progress in that conflict as key to defusing regional tensions and helping to stem the Iraqi insurgency.

In turn, progress in Iraq is vital to Mr Blair's legacy that looks set to be overshadowed by the war.

He will step down next year after a decade as Britain's Prime Minister.

- Reuters

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200612/s1813431.htm




25 Aid Workers Kidnapped In Iraq

(RTTNews) - Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms on Sunday abducted about 25 employees from the office of the Iraqi Red Crescent and 3 security guards from the nearby Netherlands embassy in downtown Baghdad. The Red Crescent, which works closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross, had about 1,000 staff and some 200,000 volunteers in Iraq.

Reports said that armed men wearing commando-style uniforms arrived in five pickup trucks at the office of the Iraqi Red Crescent, saying they had been sent to check the premises. After entering the building, the kidnappers separated the men from the women and drove of the male employees and male visitors.

Antonella Notari, a Red Cross spokeswoman in Geneva, said that the Red Cross was assured by the Iraqi Interior ministry that they were actively searching for the abductees. "We don't know who they are. We don't know why they did this," said Antonella Notari.

Meanwhile, the secretary-general of the Iraqi Red Crescent, Mazin Abdellaha, appealed to the unknown kidnappers to free the hostages. "They represent a humanitarian agency that works for the general good, and this agency helps all people regardless of their sect or ethnicity," Abdellaha said.

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20061217\ACQRTT200612171040RTTRADERUSEQUITY_0032.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999