Gunmen snatch three civilians in Baghdad

BAGHDAD - Gunmen have snatched two Americans and a Briton from a house in central Baghdad, the latest in a wave of abductions of foreigners in Iraq.

The kidnappings added to a climate of insecurity created by months of violence in Iraq that has prompted UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to question if key elections can be held in January.

Iraq's Interior Ministry initially said the three men were Britons but later said two were US citizens and one British.

Believed to be civilians, they were staying at a house in the al-Mansur district of the capital, a wealthy neighbourhood where many foreign businessmen and contractors live, when the gunmen stormed the building shortly after dawn.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said no shots were fired. Colonel Adnan Abdel-Rahman quoted witnesses as saying the men were bundled into a minivan and driven off.

More than 100 foreigners have been snatched in recent months around the country. More than two dozen of these have been killed by their captors but most have been released.

At least four Europeans are being held - two French journalists seized last month and two Italian female aid workers.

Nothing has been heard of them for nearly a week.

The latest abductions cap a five-day spasm of violence in which nearly 200 Iraqis have been killed in bomb blasts, clashes and other attacks around the country.

Forty-seven people died in a car bombing in central Baghdad, the largest death toll from a single attack in the city for six months.

In a report to the Security Council last week, Annan said the persistent violence would make it hard to hold elections as planned in January, but yesterday he was blunter.

"You cannot have credible elections if the security conditions continue as they are now," he told the BBC.

He said the Iraqi Government would have to decide, but "obviously there may come a time when we have to make our own independent assessment".

The United Nations has advised Iraq on the polls, which are crucial to US plans for a legitimate Iraqi government.

Annan also said the US-led invasion was illegal because it violated the UN Charter.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq