Two Americans and a Briton were kidnapped from their plush Baghdad home Thursday, as the two main powers behind last year's invasion became the latest victims of a five-month-old hostage crisis.
The new abductions came against the backdrop of fresh UN criticism of the US-led intervention, with Secretary General Kofi Annan for the first time describing the invasion as "illegal."
Interior ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdul Rahman said the three hostages worked for a Gulf-based private equipment firm.
Armed men drove up in a minibus shortly after 6am and burst into the trio's home in the upmarket Mansur neighborhood of the capital.
British and US diplomats were scrambling to obtain hard information on the abduction after initial reports described all three hostages as British.
"We've heard the report from the interior ministry and we're trying to get to the bottom of it," US embassy spokesman Richard Schmierer told reporters.
A British spokeswoman said only that the embassy was desperately trying to determine what happened.
The raid on the trio's private home was reminiscent of the way two Italian women aid workers and two Iraqi colleagues were snatched at gunpoint from inside their house in a quiet residential area of Baghdad earlier this month.
It was likely to further deplete an already dwindling expatriate community whose know-how is seen as essential to plans to revive the war-shattered economy and build a new Iraq.
Two French journalists kidnapped almost a month ago were still being held by a Sunni militant group despite relentless efforts by their government to secure their release.
More than 100 foreigners are thought to have been abducted in Iraq since April, as insurgents have adopted a new tactic alongside their longstanding diet of mortar and rocket-propelled grenade attacks and roadside bombings.
A massive car bomb attack against the capital's main police station killed 49 people Tuesday and a new explosion rocked the capital at noon on Wednesday.
The surge of violence coincided with the publication by the New York Times of extracts from a US intelligence report painting a bleak picture of Iraq's future.
Without providing any specific details of the 50-page report prepared by the National Intelligence Council, one official who had read it said it contained "a significant amount of pessimism."
In another blow to the US administration, Annan gave an interview to the BBC in which he described last year's invasion as "illegal."
"I've indicated that it was not in conformity with the UN charter from our point of view, and from the charter point of view it was illegal," he said.
Annan also said it was unlikely that Iraq would be able to hold "credible elections" as planned in January 2005 "if the security conditions continue as they are now."
US President George W. Bush, in the midst of a re-election campaign dominated by a debate on the war in Iraq, did not immediately react to the UN chief's comments.
But Australian Prime Minister John Howard hit back at Annan, accusing him of heading a "paralyzed" body and insisting the war was legitimate.
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
RSS