Gunmen snatch 150 Iraq ministry staff - World - smh.com.au

Gunmen snatch 150 Iraq ministry staff - World - smh.com.au: "Gunmen snatch 150 Iraq ministry staff
November 15, 2006
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GUNMEN wearing Iraqi police commando uniforms kidnapped about 150 staff from a government building in central Baghdad yesterday, the head of the parliamentary education committee said.

Alaa Makki interrupted a parliamentary session to say that about 150 people, both Shiites and Sunnis, had been abducted in the 9.30am raid on the Higher Education Ministry building.

However, a public servant who saw the raid said the gunmen checked identity cards to sort Sunnis from Shiites, then drove off with only Sunni men.

'They were checking identity cards in the car park. They picked only the Sunni employees. They even took the man who was just delivering tea,' the man said.

Police were watching, but did nothing, he said.

Mr Makki urged the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and the interior and defence ministers to rapidly respond to what he called a national catastrophe.

The gunmen had a list of names of those to be taken and claimed to be on a mission from the Government's anti-corruption body, Mr Makki said. Those kidnapped included the ministry's deputy general directors, employees, and visitors."