- Armed men have snatched two Egyptians from their office
in Baghdad - the third kidnapping of foreigners in the Iraqi capital in
less than three weeks.
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- Gunmen burst into the men's building after overpowering
the guards.
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- The latest abduction comes as relatives of UK hostage
Ken Bigley and Italians Simona Torretta and Simona Pari continue their
anguished wait for news.
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- More than 100 foreigners have been seized since March
2003. Most have been freed but at least 27 have been killed.
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- Many Iraqis have also been kidnapped - in most cases
for ransom.
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- Black BMW
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- The Egyptians were abducted at about 2200 (1800 GMT)
on Thursday from their office in the upmarket Harithiya neighbourhood,
interior ministry official Col Adnan Abdel Rahman told the Associated Press
news agency.
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- He said the men were driven away in a black BMW.
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- They work for the Iraqna telecommunications firm which
provides a mobile phone service and in which Egyptian company Orascom has
a sizeable stake.
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- An official at Egypt's embassy in Baghdad has also confirmed
that another four Egyptians working for the company were kidnapped outside
the capital on Wednesday.
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- It is not clear who is behind the abductions.
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- Until recently, most of the kidnapping of foreigners
took place on Iraq's dangerous roads but there has now been a spate of
abductions in Baghdad.
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- UK hostage Ken Bigley and two Americans, Eugene Armstrong
and Jack Hensley, were seized more than a week ago from their house in
the Mansour district of the capital.
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- Prayers
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- It is a wealthy residential area, where many multinational
companies have their headquarters.
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- The UK government has said it is doing all it can to
secure Mr Bigley's release, although it has ruled out negotiating with
the kidnappers.
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- Mr Bigley's family, including his 86-year-old mother,
have been making desperate appeals to the hostage-takers.
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- Vigils are being held in Mr Bigley's home city of Liverpool.
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- In Baghdad, some 50,000 leaflets written in Arabic have
been distributed carrying a mesage from Mr Bigley's relatives.
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- "We are Ken's family. Ken's mother, brothers, wife
and child love him dearly. We are appealing for your help," it says.
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- "We appeal to those who have taken him to please
return him safely to us."
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- The group holding him, the Tawhid and Jihad Group led
by suspect al-Qaeda militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have threatened to kill
the 62-year-old engineer unless all women held in Iraqi jails are released.
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- The kidnappers have already beheaded the two Americans.
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- In Italy, people are clinging to the hope that two Italian
women kidnapped from their office in Baghdad on 7 September are still alive.
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- The fate of the aid workers remains unclear. The Italian
government has dismissed as "unreliable" claims that they had
been killed.
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- Violence
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- Correspondents say the hostage crisis poses yet another
challenge for the country's interim government as it tries to quell the
violence that threatens to undermine attempts to hold credible elections
by the end of January.
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- Iraq's Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, speaking before the
US Congress on Thursday, insisted the vote would go ahead as scheduled
and that the violence was concentrated in just three of Iraq's 18 provinces.
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- That message was repeated in an upbeat news conference
with President George W Bush.
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- But US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said voting
might not be possible in some areas where militants are active and the
violence is too great.
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- "Well, so be it, nothing is perfect in life, so
you have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not having
an election.? You bet," he said.
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3686244.stm
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