Monday, December 18, 2006
Red Crescent emloyees kidnapped
Humanitarian, Security
UPDATE - Gunmen who kidnapped 30 people at a Red Crescent office in Baghdad on Sunday have freed 17 hostages, an official of the humanitarian group said on Monday.
Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms burst into Red Crescent offices on Sunday and kidnapped more than two dozen people at the humanitarian organization in the latest sign of the country's growing lawlessness. In the latest violence, gunmen in five pickup trucks pulled up at the office of the Iraqi Red Crescent in downtown Baghdad and abducted 25 employees, police said. A Red Crescent official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of safety concerns, said the gunmen left women behind.
Pierre Kraehenbuehl, director of operations of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in Geneva that seven abductees were released. The Dutch Foreign Ministry said three Iraqi security guards at its embassy building in Baghdad, adjacent to the Red Crescent offices, were also kidnapped, but were later released. A day after the abductions, the organization's secretary-general, Mazen Abdullah, said that only the Baghdad operations were stopped, to create more "pressure to free those who have been kidnapped."
Pierre Kraehenbuehl, director of operations of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in Geneva that seven abductees were released. The Dutch Foreign Ministry said three Iraqi security guards at its embassy building in Baghdad, adjacent to the Red Crescent offices, were also kidnapped, but were later released. A day after the abductions, the organization's secretary-general, Mazen Abdullah, said that only the Baghdad operations were stopped, to create more "pressure to free those who have been kidnapped."
The Red Crescent, which is part of the international Red Cross movement, has around 1,000 staff and some 200,000 volunteers in Iraq. It works closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which visits detainees and tries to provide food, water and medicine to Iraqis. Antonella Notari, a Red Cross spokeswoman in Geneva said the organization was in contact with the Iraqi Interior Ministry, which denied any involvement and had assured that they were searching for the abductees. Mazin Abdellaha, secretary-general of the Iraqi Red Crescent, appealed to the kidnappers to release the captives.
