Iraq blames Shiite militia for kidnapping Britons
Posted: 30 May 2007 2344 hrs

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BAGHDAD : American forces raided Shiite militia strongholds in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday after the brazen daylight kidnapping of five British contractors from a finance ministry building.

The Britons -- a consultant and his four armed bodyguards -- were snatched on Tuesday by a large group of gunmen in Iraqi police uniforms, with the finger being pointed at Shiite militias.

"We are pursuing this case very vigorously, I would say, because the nature of this kidnapping is very strange," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told AFP.

"The location of this finance ministry computer centre and the nature of the operation and the number of people involved, I think all indicate more a militia than a terrorist group, let's say," he added.

In an interview with BBC radio, Zebari noted the raid had taken place near Sadr City, a stronghold for radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, but he told AFP it was too soon to blame a specific group.

Nevertheless, the minister said the nature of the kidnapping clearly pointed to the involvement of one of the Shiite militant groups that has infiltrated Iraqi forces, rather than to a Sunni insurgent outfit such as Al-Qaeda.

The US military reported two raids in Sadr City, one of which netted two members of a kidnap gang and the other a six-strong "terrorist cell" accused of smuggling guns, shells and roadside bombs from Iran.

Sadr City residents said two of those arrested were Iraqi police, but the military could not confirm the raids were linked to the missing Britons.

"We will give support with whatever is necessary to the British embassy, the US embassy and the Iraqi government in order to find these missing British civilians," said US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver.

Representatives of Sadr's movement, which fields thousands of militia fighters, categorically denied any involvement in the abduction.

"Kidnapping operations conflict with the peaceful steps that Sadr advocates and are in direct contradiction with the course his office is adopting now," spokesman Salah al-Ubaidi told AFP from the movement's base in Najaf.

The Iraqi presidency, prime minister's office and interior ministry refused to comment.

Witnesses outside the downtown ministry building where the kidnapping took place, said the operation appeared well organised and was carried out by gunmen in official vehicles and uniforms.

"They went inside and escorted out the foreigners, but one managed to hide in the basement," said one of ministry's security guards, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

US forces arrived on the scene an hour later, cordoned off the area and conducted a number of searches, witnesses said. The American troops took the foreigner away, along with several more finance ministry guards.

Britain's top-secret "Cobra" crisis unit was expected to meet for a second straight day Wednesday to find a way to secure the release of the Britons.

"We're working hard on the ground, we're liaising with the Iraqi authorities," said a British Foreign Office spokesman in London. "We have to establish the facts and there will be all sorts of decisions taken."

Four of the five Britons were members of a security detail working for Garda World, a Canadian firm, while the fifth was their client, a consultant under contract to the US government to train Iraqi civil servants.

Witnesses to the abduction said it unfolded without much violence after four blue and white pickup trucks with crude armour welded on them, like those used by the National Police, pulled up to the building.

"They were led by a major and a very official looking man wearing a suit," said a shopkeeper who asked not to be named.

"They went in, stayed for only 15 minutes and then left -- I heard one shot but thought someone had made a mistake."

A building guard said the gunmen were polite and explained they were with the Commission on Public Integrity, an anti-graft agency. "They started taking photos of the building and said 'We have official orders'," he added.

Saad Mohammed, who works as a parking attendant near the building, said that at first everything seemed normal, even as the foreigners were brought out of the building and driven off.

"Then all the civil servants and people at the building came rushing out. They were terrified and hysterical and yelling there had been a kidnapping," he added.

Mass kidnappings by uniformed men were common last year and were believed to be the work of Shiite militias with close ties to the police.

- AFP /ls