Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Defense Dept: kidnappers of security contractors linked to al-Sadr
Security
On November 17 a senior Defense Department official told ABC News that Shiite militiamen tied to anti-American cleric Moqtada al Sadr were behind the abduction of four American security contractors and an Austrian co-worker seized in a brazen attack on a supply convoy near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Throughout the day, statements from Iraqi officials — later discounted — led to reports that some of the hostages had been released or found dead. However, their employer, Crescent Security Group, said there had been no claim of responsibility, no demand for ransom and no communication of any kind from the hijackers.
Despite the confusion, new details emerged about the incident Thursday that took place 20 kilometers north of the Iraqi city of Safwan, located near the border with Kuwait. A senior defense official said it was believed that the gunmen who ambushed the convoy were wearing newly issued Iraqi police uniforms that are supposed to be tightly controlled, hard to duplicate and were issued only last month. Only a month ago, the coalition began distributing the digitally altered blue camouflage uniforms to National Police Brigades. The uniforms are also tied to the mass kidnapping earlier this week in Baghdad at the Education Ministry.
The ambushed convoy was made up of 43 trailer trucks and six security vehicles operated by the Crescent Security Group, a Kuwait-based private security firm. The trucks were empty as they traveled north to an Italian base near Nasiriyah, where they were to pick up materials to be returned to Kuwait. According to ABC news The Crescent Security spokesman said two of their Western employees and an unknown number of Iraqi guards were not taken by the gunmen but had their cell phones taken. They were found by a military quick reaction force that arrived on the scene shortly after the ambush. The Crescent spokesman said the employees are now back in Kuwait. The spokesman refused to discuss if any of the employees had been injured but said there were no indications that a gun battle took place.
Despite the confusion, new details emerged about the incident Thursday that took place 20 kilometers north of the Iraqi city of Safwan, located near the border with Kuwait. A senior defense official said it was believed that the gunmen who ambushed the convoy were wearing newly issued Iraqi police uniforms that are supposed to be tightly controlled, hard to duplicate and were issued only last month. Only a month ago, the coalition began distributing the digitally altered blue camouflage uniforms to National Police Brigades. The uniforms are also tied to the mass kidnapping earlier this week in Baghdad at the Education Ministry.
The ambushed convoy was made up of 43 trailer trucks and six security vehicles operated by the Crescent Security Group, a Kuwait-based private security firm. The trucks were empty as they traveled north to an Italian base near Nasiriyah, where they were to pick up materials to be returned to Kuwait. According to ABC news The Crescent Security spokesman said two of their Western employees and an unknown number of Iraqi guards were not taken by the gunmen but had their cell phones taken. They were found by a military quick reaction force that arrived on the scene shortly after the ambush. The Crescent spokesman said the employees are now back in Kuwait. The spokesman refused to discuss if any of the employees had been injured but said there were no indications that a gun battle took place.
