Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Dozens Are Kidnapped at College Office in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Nov. 14 — Several dozen employees of a university office were kidnapped here today, in a methodical daylight raid that prompted the minister of higher education to berate Parliament and threaten to shut the nation’s universities until security improves.

Wathiq Khuzaie/AFP — Getty Images

Several dozen employees of a government research institute were kidnapped today in Baghdad.

Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud/Reuters

Relatives of people kidnapped Tuesday from a government research institute in Baghdad waiting outside the compound of the department of higher education.

Estimates of the number of kidnapped varied widely, with a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior putting the number between 30 and 40 and the department of higher education saying that between 70 and 150 men were missing. An interior ministry spokesman said that he did not think the number of vehicles reportedly involved could have carried off both the gunmen — by some counts, as many as 80 took part — and the number of victims described by education officials.

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Source: Dozens Are Kidnapped at College Office in Baghdad - New York Times

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