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Britons Are Kidnapped In Baghdad

Sky sources have confirmed that five Britons have been kidnapped in Baghdad.
The Foreign Office says is "urgently" looking into claims that five British security guards have been seized in the Iraqi capital.

It is reported that four of the men were security guards while the fifth was the client they were protecting.

Initially reports said three western lecturers, possibly American or German, and their bodyguards, had been taken from a Finance Ministry building in the city centre.

The British Government's emergency response committee, Cobra, is expected to meet about the incident this afternoon.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are urgently looking into reports that a group of Westerners has been kidnapped."

Witnesses told the Reuters news agency the group were snatched by gunmen wearing Iraqi police uniforms.

The kidnappers, led by a man dressed as a police major, are thought to have entered a conference room shouting: "Where are the foreigners, where are the foreigners?"

A witness said the workers had been giving ministry personnel a lecture on electronic contracts.

She said several of the lecturers' bodyguards had also been taken.

Private security work is often carried out by ex-soldiers and is a lucrative business.


But with the cash comes the risk and the possibility of kidnap, torture and death.

The kidnappings came as a US helicopter went down in northern Iraq, killing two Americans, while six troops were killed in a bomb blast in north of Baghdad.

That means 112 US troops have been killed in May, making it the bloodiest month for the Americans this year.

Also, a bus bomb exploded in the capital killing at least 22 people, and a car bomb killed at least 10 people in a market in south west Baghdad.

More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The British Christian activist Norman Kember and Guardian journalist Rory Carroll were all snatched but later released. Carroll was taken by Shia gunmen.

Contractor Ken Bigley, from Liverpool, was beheaded by al Qaeda insurgents after spending several weeks in captivity while aid worker Margaret Hussein was shot dead.

If confirmed, the current kidnapping would consist of the largest number of Britons seized in Iraq. Skynews

Britons 'among westerners seized in Baghdad'




The Foreign Office said it was "urgently" examining reports that four British security guards were among seven westerners kidnapped from a government building in Iraq today.

A spokeswoman said officials were "aware of reports that a group of westerners have been kidnapped" and were "urgently looking into them".

Gunmen wearing police uniforms abducted the group from a finance ministry building in Baghdad.

Police said the group were seized from cars outside the building. It is believed to be the first time westerners have been taken from a government location.

The bodyguards reportedly work for a Canadian security company, GardaWorld based in Montreal. A spokeswoman for the company said it was investigating reports that its staff were involved in today's incident.

"We are working together with our teams in Iraq to fully investigate, in accordance with our procedures, what has actually happened," she said.

The spokeswoman added that GardaWorld - which has hundreds of staff, mostly ex-military personnel, in Iraq - was involved in "risk mitigation" and security projects in the country.

"We have a number of British people working as teams of specialists throughout Iraq," she added.

The hostages are reported to include three German computer experts who had been giving a lecture to ministry personnel in the city centre building.

Led by a police major, the gunmen entered the conference room shouting: "Where are the foreigners, where are the foreigners?" a witness told Reuters.

Another lecturer escaped because he was sitting apart from his colleagues. The witness said the lecturers, employed by a US organisation, had given at least 12 lectures at the ministry over the past year.

The Pentagon has estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 armed security contractors work in Iraq, although there are no official figures and some estimates are much higher.

More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. At least 60 foreign hostages, including the aid worker Margaret Hassan, are believed to have been executed by their captors.

Reports of the kidnappings come on another bloody day for Iraq, with two car bombings in Baghdad killing more than 35 people. At least 22 people died and 55 others wounded in a bomb explosion in a parked bus in the centre of the city, police said.

The blast happened near a major intersection in Tayaran Square, a busy commercial area usually filled with markets. Many day workers, mostly poor Shias, often wait in the square for work.

US military officials said eight soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in Diyala province, north of Baghdad.

Six soldiers died in explosions near their vehicles, and two were killed when their helicopter went down. It was not immediately known whether the aircraft was shot down or suffered mechanical difficulties. guardian