Algerian diplomats kidnapped in Iraq

TWO Algerian diplomats, including charge d’affaires Balarousi Ali, and their driver were abducted yesterday in western Baghdad.

Police officials said the envoy, along with a second diplomat, was kidnapped near the al-Sa’a restaurant in Mansour when his car was stopped by gunmen in two cars who dragged him from his vehicle. The second diplomat was identified as Azzedine Ben Kadi, according to an Algerian diplomatic source.

Meanwhile two suicide car bombings, along with a string of other attacks, in and around Baghdad yesterday, left 14 people dead.