2 Canadians Kidnapped in Iraq

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2 Canadians kidnapped in Iraq
Last Updated Sun, 27 Nov 2005 14:25:48 EST
CBC News
Four humanitarian workers, including two Canadians, have been taken hostage in Iraq, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Sunday.


The Canadian embassy in Amman, Jordan, notified Foreign Affairs about the kidnapping on Saturday.

The aid agency has asked that the names not be released, Dan McTeague, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, said Sunday.

McTeague said the aid agency, which he would not name, "has not requested any assistance at this time." Officials in Amman and Ottawa are in contact with the organization, he added.

In April 2004, Foreign Affairs issued an advisory that said no Canadians should travel to Iraq.

"Under no circumstances should Canadians be there," McTeague said Sunday. "The situation remains very unstable ... and continues to be a danger for all foreign travellers."

He said Canada does not have an embassy in Iraq, but Foreign Affairs will continue to collect information about the kidnapping.

An Iraqi official said Sunday that four kidnapped workers included a Briton and the two Canadians.

There are reports that the fourth worker is an American, but McTeague could not confirm it.

At least 200 foreigners have been abducted in Iraq in the past year and a half.

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Let's pray they're not TORTURED in retaliation.

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Four foreign aid workers kidnapped in Iraq
Sun Nov 27, 2005 3:19 PM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four Western aid workers, two believed to be from Canada, one from Britain and one from the United States, have been kidnapped in Iraq, the organization they were working for said on Sunday.





THIS IS ALL REUTERS HAS AT THIS TIME

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FROM THE BBC....




Four Westerners 'seized in Iraq'

At least 200 foreigners have been abducted in the past 18 months
Four Western aid workers, including two Canadians and a Briton, have been kidnapped in Iraq, officials say.
A senior Canadian official confirmed that two Canadian nationals were seized in the capital Baghdad on Saturday.

The UK Foreign Office later named a Briton believed to have been abducted with them. The fourth is said to be American but there is no confirmation.

It is estimated that over the past year and a half, at least 200 foreigners have been abducted in Iraq.

Advisory

Dan McTeague, the parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad, confirmed the Canadian abductions in an interview with CBC television.

Mr McTeague said the aid agency involved had asked that no names be disclosed.

The UK Foreign Office named the Briton as Norman Kember from Pinner, north-west of London.

Mr McTeague repeated Canada's advisory to its citizens not to travel to Iraq.

"Under no circumstances should Canadians be there," Mr McTeague said. "The situation remains very unstable... and continues to be a danger for all foreign travellers."

In October the al-Qaeda in Iraq militant group said it had abducted two Moroccan embassy employees.

Also in October, Guardian reporter Rory Carroll was taken at gunpoint in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City but was freed after 36 hours.

In August US freelance reporter, Steven Vincent, was shot dead after being abducted in Basra, southern Iraq.

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Finally, the US Media has something.....



The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq Nov 27, 2005 — Four aid workers, including two Canadians, have been kidnapped in Iraq, a Canadian official said Sunday, while Iraqi police have arrested eight Sunni Arabs for allegedly plotting to assassinate the investigating judge in the case against Saddam Hussein.

Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad, would not say which organization the four have been working for, or where in Iraq they were located. He was speaking in Ottawa, Canada and no other details were immediately available.

The Canadian government has advised since April of 2004 that Canadians, including humanitarian workers, should not to travel to Iraq.

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Tuesday, November 29, 2005; Posted: 4:04 p.m. EST (21:04 GMT)

• Special ReportBAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Arabic-language channel Al-Jazeera on Tuesday broadcast a video issued by an unknown group showing what it claimed were four hostages.

The group, which called itself "the Swords of Justice," said the four were spies and claimed they worked under the cover of "the Christian Peace group," according to Al-Jazeera.

CNN cannot independently verify the video's authenticity. (Watch the kidnap victims -- 2:25)

On Monday, the Christian Peacemaker Teams said that four aid workers affiliated with its organization were kidnapped Saturday.

The aid workers include two Canadians, an American and a Briton, whom the British Foreign Office identified as Norman Kember.

After the video surfaced on Al-Jazeera, the Foreign Office released a statement saying, "We utterly condemn the abduction of Norman Kember and his colleagues. The release of this video can only cause further distress to their families at this difficult time."

The video shows four men sitting and then shows their identification cards, which are difficult to read because of the video's poor quality.

Also Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that a German woman and her driver likely were kidnapped in Iraq.

The two have been missing since Friday.

N-TV, CNN's sister network in Germany, has identified the woman as 43-year-old Susanne Osthoff. (Details)

According to a CNN tally, as of Sunday, 34 people are being held captive in Iraq and three remain unaccounted for. More than 50 hostages have been killed, while 175 either were released, rescued or escaped, the CNN tally found.

Meanwhile, Iranian state television reported Tuesday that gunmen have released six Iranian pilgrims and an Iraqi woman seized Monday north of Baghdad, according to Reuters.

Christian party officials killed
Gunmen ambushed members of a Christian political party, the Assyrian Democratic movement, in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, killing two of them and wounding two others, a hospital official said.

The attack happened in northeast Mosul as party officials were putting up posters for the December 15 parliamentary elections, said the official at Jamhouri hospital.

The killings come a day after gunmen killed a top Sunni Arab political activist, another sheik and their driver in Zaydun, west of Baghdad.

Sheikh Ayad al-Izzi, an Iraqi Islamic Party official, had been involved in the upcoming elections and the development of a new Iraqi constitution. (Full story)

Other developments

Two Task Force Baghdad soldiers were killed Tuesday morning when their patrol struck a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. No further details were provided. The deaths bring the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war to 2,110. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark said he met with ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Monday, describing him in "extremely good spirits," The Associated Press reported. Clark, who is serving as an adviser to the defense team, has questioned the adequacy of security measures in place for the trial. The trial has been adjourned until next Monday. (Full story)


More than 370 members of al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's clan disowned him Tuesday, the AP reported. In a full-page letter published in Jordanian newspapers, members of the Bani Hassan tribe renounced all ties to the militant, according to the AP. It was the family's second attempt to do so since the November 9 triple suicide blasts in Amman, Jordan, the AP said.


In an AP interview Monday, Lawrence Wilkerson, former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, said that President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of postwar planning in Iraq. (Full story)

CNN's Arwa Damon, Tomas Etzler, Octavia Nasr and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.