Kidnapping nightmare continues in Baghdad

The Iraqi kidnapping scourge continued unabated today with the abduction of two Egyptians in Baghdad.

There was still no word of the fate of Ken Bigley – or two Italian women whom websites claim have been beheaded.

Gunmen broke into a mobile phone company office in Baghdad and seized two Egyptian employees, government officials said.

They were abducted from the exclusive Harthiya neighbourhood, said Interior Ministry official Colonel Adnan Abdel-Rahman.

The two engineers were taken away in a black BMW, he said.

Another ministry official said the assailants tied up the guards outside the building before breaking in and seizing the two men.

More than 130 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq – some for lucrative ransoms – and at least 27 have been killed.

The fate of two Italian women aid workers who were seized from their office on September 7, remained unknown today.

Two statements surfaced on the internet this week claiming they had been beheaded, but the Italian government says the claims are unreliable.

Muslim scholars in Baghdad also cast doubt on the execution claims. Mortars exploded near the Italian Embassy in the capital today, slightly wounding three Iraqis.

It was not clear if the kidnapping of the Egyptians was politically motivated like that of Mr Bigley, who was shown in a video tape begging for the release all female prisoners in Iraq as his captors have demanded.

The repeated hostage takings underscored the extremely volatile security in Iraq, a situation that is only expected to get worse in the run-up to elections scheduled to take place by the end of January.

In Washington, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested that parts of Iraq might have to be excluded from the elections because of continuing violence.

With car bombs, shootings and kidnappings escalating and several cities effectively under insurgent control, there are concerns that Iraq will not be ready to hold a vote by the January 31 deadline.

But Shiites, who make up about 60% of Iraq’s 25 million people, are eager to hold elections since they expect to dominate whatever government emerges.

Iraq’s top Shiite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is insisting elections promised for January must be held on time, an aide said.

The leader of Iraq’s biggest Shiite Muslim political party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, also said the vote must go ahead as planned.

“We affirm on the necessity to hold elections on time and we reject any attempt to delay the elections under any pretext “ said Abdel Aziz al-Hakim.