- BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Most
international aid agencies in Iraq are considering pulling out following
the kidnapping of two Italian humanitarian workers, a coordinator for non-governmental
groups in Baghdad said Wednesday.
-
- "We are reviewing the situation," Jean-Dominique
Bunel told Reuters after cutting short a crisis meeting of aid officials
in the Iraqi capital because of security fears.
-
- He said they had not reached a collective decision. However,
before the meeting, Bunel said he expected the remaining 50-odd representatives
of the same number of agencies in Iraq to leave.
-
- A group of gunmen seized Simona Torretta and Simona Pari,
both 29, from their central Baghdad offices Tuesday in a brazen attack
which alarmed foreigners already edgy over a wave of kidnappings.
-
- The pair worked for Bridge to Baghdad, an organization
helping children in schools across the country.
-
- A representative of German aid group Aktion Deutschland
Hilft, speaking in Frankfurt, said the kidnapping of the Italians was a
calculated move that put all foreign aid workers in Iraq in danger.
-
- "That was a totally deliberate kidnapping. It's
a totally new stage in the radicalization of terror acts and in the threat
level for the international aid community," said Janina Niemietz.
-
- There are six Germans working for aid groups in Iraq,
Niemietz said.
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