Uniformed gunmen kidnap deputy oil minister

More than 50 gunmen dressed in Iraqi security forces uniforms broke into an oil ministry compound in Baghdad today and abducted a senior deputy of the oil minister and four other officials, a ministry spokesman and police said.

Abdel-Jabar al-Wagaa, the senior assistant to oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani, was spirited away by the gunmen in what were believed to be official military vehicles, said spokesman Assem Jihad.