- BAGHDAD (AFP) -- Egyptian
and Iraqi officials joined forces to seek the release of a kidnapped Cairo
diplomat as Iraq's wave of abductions continued apace with the snatching
of a state company director on the streets of central Baghdad.
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- Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi pressed Egypt not
to cave in to the kidnappers' demands, which remain unknown, after Manila
withdrew its small contingent from Iraq in exchange for the release of
a captured Filipino.
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- "There is no way to give to terrorists what they
want. It was regrettable that the Philippines (did so)," Allawi said
during a visit to Syria.
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- Diplomat Mohamed Mamdouh Kotb was kidnapped in response
to what the group, calling itself the Lions of Allah, described as an offer
from the Egyptian government to lend Iraq its "security expertise".
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- Cairo quickly reacted by saying it would "absolutely
not" consider sending troops to the strife-torn country.
-
- In Baghdad, Allawi's caretaker government said it was
working closely with the Egyptians to free the experienced diplomat, who
was seized on Friday.
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- "The government is working hard to get the release
of the hostages. It is in constant contact with the Egyptian embassy,"
Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid al-Bayati told a press conference.
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- "The government has had several meetings today to
discuss the crisis."
-
- Earlier, an Egyptian official said the mission had not
been in contact with Kotb's kidnappers.
-
- In Cairo, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit called on
the groups holding Kotb and an Egyptian truck driver, snatched two days
apart, to be merciful.
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- "I hope that the kidnappers will have mercy and
free the Egyptian diplomat and citizen so that they can return to their
work," the minister said.
-
- Kotb, the father of three grown children, was shown on
Al-Jazeera television late Friday, apparently kneeling in front of six,
black-clad, masked men.
-
- Fellow Egyptian Mohammed Ali al-Masri was abducted on
Wednesday by another group, along with six other truck drivers -- three
Indians and three Kenyans.
-
- Just hours after Kotb was taken in the first abduction
of a diplomat since a wave of hostage-taking began in April, the director
of a state-owned Iraqi construction company was seized in Baghdad.
-
- "He was kidnapped on his way to work this morning,"
interior ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim told AFP, naming the captive as
Raad Adnan, head of the Al-Mansour Contracting Co.
-
- Kadhim said he was unaware of financial or political
demands for the release of the civil servant, attached to the housing and
reconstruction ministry.
-
- Meanwhile, faced with new demands for the release of
the three Kenyans, Nairobi pleaded again for their freedom.
-
- "As a country, we cannot meet these new demands,
because we were not part of the attacks in Fallujah and we are not holding
any Iraqi prisoner," government spokesman Alfred Mutua said.
-
- The group, named Holders of the Black Banners, had promised
to kill one man every 72 hours from Saturday unless their Kuwaiti employers
leave Iraq.
-
- On Friday, however, it issued a 48-hour extension on
that deadline and also demanded "payment of damages to families of
victims of Fallujah and the release of Iraqi detainees from American and
Kuwaiti prisons," Al-Jazeera said.
-
- Fallujah has long been a focal point of resistance to
the US-led occupation.
-
- New Delhi said it was doing its best to secure the safe
release of its three nationals after a meeting of the government's highest
strategic decision-making body.
-
- Foreign Minister Natwar Singh told one of the anxious
families that he was hopeful the captives would be freed soon.
-
- In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
his country was not prepared to send peacekeepers to Iraq as sought by
his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari during a visit there.
-
- The continuing unrest in Iraq was demonstrated again
in an overnight attack on an oil pipeline that connects Baghdad's Al-Dura
power station to the main northern oil fields around Kirkuk, an industry
official said.
-
- Oil exports from the north had been expected to resume
soon after a pipeline sabotaged earlier this month was repaired.
-
- A US marine died Friday after being wounded during clashes
in Iraq's restive Al-Anbar province, the US military said.
-
- His death brings to 665 the number of US troops killed
in action in the country since the start of the US-led war in March 2003,
based on Pentagon figures.
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