BBC: Baghdad gunmen kidnap 25 people

[Eugene]

Last Updated: Monday, 31 July 2006, 09:43 GMT 10:43 UK

Baghdad gunmen kidnap 25 people

Gunmen wearing Iraqi police uniforms have kidnapped 25 people at the offices
of a company in central Baghdad, interior ministry officials said.

The gunmen pulled up in 15 vehicles and rounded up employees and customers
of the mobile phone firm on a shopping street in the Arasat district.

Mass kidnappings of this kind have become a feature of the bloody sectarian
violence across Iraq.

It is not known who might be behind this incident.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5230834.stm

[thepurpose]

1. Good thing we extra troops there because it could have been 50!

What the hell. Anybody else get the feeling the areas where the admin is always touting there is no fighting or violence have no people living there? We can't protect a major city or even a small business.

[saigon68]

2. More U.S. Troops needed To referee

The Civil War

[coalition_unwilling]

11. E militia unum (One milita out of many) -- eom

[uppityperson]

3. k&r for USA responsibility

[Moderator]

4. kick

[Cocoa]

5. 25 kindapped from Chamber of Commerce in Baghdad

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=74395

Gunmen wearing uniforms of Iraqi security forces kidnapped 25 people from an office in central Baghdad in broad daylight Monday, police said. The Iraqi government said Monday that 30,359 families have fled their homes to escape sectarian violence from mid-February until July 30 as violence across the country left at least 20 people dead.

The gunmen pulled up in 15 four-wheel-drive vehicles and kidnapped employees and customers at the office on a street in Arasat, once a thriving commercial district that has seen many businesses close due to violence ravaging the country.

Some witnesses said the offices were those of the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Al-Rawi mobile telephone company.

"I was on the first floor of the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and they took all the men downstairs. They were in camouflage army uniforms. They handcuffed the men and blindfolded them," said a witness who asked not to be named.

"Me and five others were left behind because all the cars were full."

Police said among those kidnapped were the head and 11 employees of the chamber, which represents companies seeking to boost trade between postwar Iraq and firms in the US.

more...


edit: "one of the safest parts of Baghdad"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2293859,00.html

A CONVOY of gunmen dressed as Iraqi security forces drove into one of the safest parts of Baghdad yesterday and kidnapped 26 people from the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and a shop.

[Ka hrnt]

6. *sigh* (again)

What a mess...where are those flowers Rumsfeld said would be heading our way?

[babylonsister]

7. Will the media whores care, since it didn't happen in I/P/L?

I think it's despicable that important info like this isn't 'getting out'. No civil war?

[maxsolomon]

8. "Me and five others were left behind because all the cars were full."

most likely a ransom kidnapping. you & i will pay off Al Sadr's agents in the Iraqi Army.

[tridim]

9. "Post war Iraq"?

Wow, I guess the police are only watching American media and not looking out the window.

[spartan61]

10. Haven't seen a word about this on CNN or MSNBC.

But then I must realize they have more important things to report like Mel Gibson, Israel/Lebanon conflict, and Castro ceding power to Raul. Makes you wonder if they have forgotten that we are in Iraq or are they taking orders from rove in the hope the American people will forget about Iraq.