Egyptians Abducted in Iraq

24/09/2004| IslamWeb

Two Egyptians working for a telecom company in Baghdad were seized from their offices overnight by a group of armed men, Iraq's interim Interior Ministry has said. The men were abducted at about 10pm (1800 GMT) on Thursday in the upmarket Harthiya neighbourhood, said ministry official Colonel Adnan Abd al-Rahman. The two engineers were driven away in a black BMW, he said. He had no further details. They both worked for Iraqna, a mobile telecommunications company covering Baghdad and central Iraq in which Egypt-based firm Orascom has a sizeable stake. The men's employers at Iraqna Mobile Net had no immediate information on the incident. But other employees say that six other co-workers had been abducted earlier in the week. "My colleague called me on Wednesday to say that six of our colleagues were kidnapped that day in the afternoon near Falluja," an expatriate employee with Orascom told AFP on condition of anonymity. "When I went back to the office on Thursday, they confirmed that it was true," he said. Over the last six months more than 100 foreigners have been seized in Iraq. Most have been freed but around 30 have been killed by their captors **PHOTO CAPTION*** A picture dated September 19 released by the US Marines shows Sgt Maj. William C. Jordan, paying his respects to two fallen Marines. (AFP)