Gunmen kidnap Iraqi archbishop

THE Iraqi Catholic archbishop of Mosul was kidnapped at gunpoint yesterday in what the Vatican called an “act of terrorism”.

Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, 66, was believed to be the highest-ranking Catholic prelate to be abducted in Iraq, where churches have been the target of a bombing campaign that has rattled the tiny Christian minority.

“We have received news of the kidnapping of the ... Archbishop of Mosul, Basile Georges Casmoussa,” said Chief Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.