LoungeMachine
11-14-2006, 10:02 AM
Gunmen grab up to 150 from Baghdad research institute
POSTED: 9:12 a.m. EST, November 14, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Gunmen clad in Iraqi National Police uniforms kidnapped between 100 and 150 people at a government research institute in Baghdad Tuesday morning, forcing the minister of higher education to order universities closed until security improves.
The daytime raid involved up to 80 gunmen and targeted the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research -- Scholarships and Cultural Relations Directorate building, Minister Abed Dhiyab al-Ajili told parliament.
He said he had "no choice but to stop the teaching in the universities in Baghdad, adding he is "not ready to see more professors get killed." (Watch what the directorate looked like after more than 100 people were kidnapped -- 2:32 )
The directorate had a guard force that numbered about 20, with a handful of weapons among them -- not enough to resist the abductors -- al-Ajili said.
Authorities deplored the act, and the United Nations issued a condemnation.
The kidnappers surrounded the four-story building along Nidhal Street with at least 20 vehicles, taking captive guards, employees and civilians, al-Ajili said.
"They took 100 to 150 people, including employees from different ranks starting from manager and down to the cleaning workers and normal citizens," the minister said.
The gunmen separated the men from the women, locking the women in a room, while loading the men into vehicles before making their escape, al-Ajili said.
Al-Ajili said he had sent a letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki last week, asking for better protection for universities and education buildings. The defense and interior ministers had rejected earlier requests for 800 university guards, he said.
The U.N. secretary-general's special representative in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, called the kidnapping "a nefarious crime," saying it "could dangerously and negatively effect progress and development in Iraq, a country long known for its literary and scientific tradition."
Qazi urged Iraqi officials "to immediately and inexorably pursue those responsible, free the abductees and ensure the sanctity of higher education."
Bombers kill 12 in Baghdad
In addition to the mass kidnapping, two bombing attacks rocked Baghdad Tuesday afternoon, leaving 12 people dead and nearly three dozen more wounded, police told CNN.
The first blast took place at 1:30 p.m. in the central Baghdad section of Amin, killing 10 people and wounding 25 others near the busy Shurja market.
The second bombing occurred at 2 p.m. in eastern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding 10 others at a bus station.
The attacks come a day after a suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt blew himself up inside a bus in northeastern Baghdad, killing 10 people and wounding 17 others, emergency police said. It was one of several deadly incidents Monday. (Full story)
Hospital official: U.S. operation kills 25 says
A U.S. military operation in Ramadi left 25 people dead Monday night, a hospital official told CNN, adding that U.S. tank fire destroyed several houses in the city's Dhubat district.
The U.S. military had no comment about the incident, which was said to have occurred around 8 p.m.
Some people were killed while trying to recover the dead and help the wounded, witnesses told CNN.
Fierce fighting has persisted between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi troops for months in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province about 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of Baghdad. The volatile region is Sunni-dominated.
The developments coincided with the deaths of six people during fighting late Monday between U.S. troops and members of the Shiite Mehdi militia in Baghdad, police in Baghdad told CNN.
The operations centered on the Shula neighborhood and involved a search for members of the militia, which is led by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
As fighting erupted, the military deployed helicopters and the ensuing airstrikes killed six people and wounded 13 others, police said.
It is not clear if the operation was related to the search for Spc. Ahmed K. Altaie, the Iraqi-American translator who was kidnapped in Baghdad on October 23.
The coalition has offered up to $50,000 for information leading to his "recovery," according to the U.S. military last week.
Other developments
Civil rights activists filed a criminal lawsuit Tuesday seeking a war crimes investigation of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other top Bush administration officials. (Full story)
British Prime Minister Tony Blair challenged Iran and Syria on Monday to help stabilize Iraq or face isolation as Washington and London review their strategy in Iraq. (Full story)
With a top Democrat calling for a "phased redeployment" of U.S. troops in Iraq, President Bush met Monday with a commission studying the war and said conditions in Iraq, not politics, would dictate troop levels there. (Full story)
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Monday talks should be held with Syria and Iran on ending the violence in Iraq, lending support to the British proposal to engage both nations despite U.S. criticism. (Full story)
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Ingrid Formanek contributed to this report.
POSTED: 9:12 a.m. EST, November 14, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Gunmen clad in Iraqi National Police uniforms kidnapped between 100 and 150 people at a government research institute in Baghdad Tuesday morning, forcing the minister of higher education to order universities closed until security improves.
The daytime raid involved up to 80 gunmen and targeted the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research -- Scholarships and Cultural Relations Directorate building, Minister Abed Dhiyab al-Ajili told parliament.
He said he had "no choice but to stop the teaching in the universities in Baghdad, adding he is "not ready to see more professors get killed." (Watch what the directorate looked like after more than 100 people were kidnapped -- 2:32 )
The directorate had a guard force that numbered about 20, with a handful of weapons among them -- not enough to resist the abductors -- al-Ajili said.
Authorities deplored the act, and the United Nations issued a condemnation.
The kidnappers surrounded the four-story building along Nidhal Street with at least 20 vehicles, taking captive guards, employees and civilians, al-Ajili said.
"They took 100 to 150 people, including employees from different ranks starting from manager and down to the cleaning workers and normal citizens," the minister said.
The gunmen separated the men from the women, locking the women in a room, while loading the men into vehicles before making their escape, al-Ajili said.
Al-Ajili said he had sent a letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki last week, asking for better protection for universities and education buildings. The defense and interior ministers had rejected earlier requests for 800 university guards, he said.
The U.N. secretary-general's special representative in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, called the kidnapping "a nefarious crime," saying it "could dangerously and negatively effect progress and development in Iraq, a country long known for its literary and scientific tradition."
Qazi urged Iraqi officials "to immediately and inexorably pursue those responsible, free the abductees and ensure the sanctity of higher education."
Bombers kill 12 in Baghdad
In addition to the mass kidnapping, two bombing attacks rocked Baghdad Tuesday afternoon, leaving 12 people dead and nearly three dozen more wounded, police told CNN.
The first blast took place at 1:30 p.m. in the central Baghdad section of Amin, killing 10 people and wounding 25 others near the busy Shurja market.
The second bombing occurred at 2 p.m. in eastern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding 10 others at a bus station.
The attacks come a day after a suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt blew himself up inside a bus in northeastern Baghdad, killing 10 people and wounding 17 others, emergency police said. It was one of several deadly incidents Monday. (Full story)
Hospital official: U.S. operation kills 25 says
A U.S. military operation in Ramadi left 25 people dead Monday night, a hospital official told CNN, adding that U.S. tank fire destroyed several houses in the city's Dhubat district.
The U.S. military had no comment about the incident, which was said to have occurred around 8 p.m.
Some people were killed while trying to recover the dead and help the wounded, witnesses told CNN.
Fierce fighting has persisted between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi troops for months in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province about 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of Baghdad. The volatile region is Sunni-dominated.
The developments coincided with the deaths of six people during fighting late Monday between U.S. troops and members of the Shiite Mehdi militia in Baghdad, police in Baghdad told CNN.
The operations centered on the Shula neighborhood and involved a search for members of the militia, which is led by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
As fighting erupted, the military deployed helicopters and the ensuing airstrikes killed six people and wounded 13 others, police said.
It is not clear if the operation was related to the search for Spc. Ahmed K. Altaie, the Iraqi-American translator who was kidnapped in Baghdad on October 23.
The coalition has offered up to $50,000 for information leading to his "recovery," according to the U.S. military last week.
Other developments
Civil rights activists filed a criminal lawsuit Tuesday seeking a war crimes investigation of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other top Bush administration officials. (Full story)
British Prime Minister Tony Blair challenged Iran and Syria on Monday to help stabilize Iraq or face isolation as Washington and London review their strategy in Iraq. (Full story)
With a top Democrat calling for a "phased redeployment" of U.S. troops in Iraq, President Bush met Monday with a commission studying the war and said conditions in Iraq, not politics, would dictate troop levels there. (Full story)
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Monday talks should be held with Syria and Iran on ending the violence in Iraq, lending support to the British proposal to engage both nations despite U.S. criticism. (Full story)
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Ingrid Formanek contributed to this report.