Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Mahdi Army may be behind abduction of foreigners
Security
(BBC) - A Shia militia group is thought to be behind the kidnapping of five Britons in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that the Mehdi Army, rather than al-Qaeda, could be responsible.
The Anglican vicar of Baghdad, Canon Andrew White, said the kidnapping could be linked to the recent killing of a radical Shia cleric by UK troops.
The Britons were seized at a government building near Baghdad's Sadr City suburb, a Mehdi Army stronghold.
The five men - a computer expert and four bodyguards - were taken from the finance ministry building in Baghdad. The kidnappers wore police uniforms and staged the capture without firing a shot, senior Iraqi officials said.
Mr Zebari said the kidnappings represented a "very serious challenge... to the government itself". The kidnappers probably had connections with local police in the area, he told the BBC's Today programme. "The number of people who were involved in the operation, to seal all the buildings, to set roadblocks, to get into the building with such confidence, [they] must have some connection."
Canon Andrew White said there was "very likely a connection" between Tuesday's kidnappings and the death of Abu Qadir, also known as Wissam Waili, a leader of the Mehdi Army militia, who was killed in Basra on 25 May. He told the BBC: "The worrying thing is this is obviously not a case for ransom demand; economic hostage-taking is fairly easy to deal with. "The fact is that just last week, one [leader] of the most militant wing of the Mehdi Army was killed by the British troops, and we now see that there is very likely a connection between these two [events]."
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking during a trip to Libya, said: "We will do everything we possibly can to help." In a statement, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said support was being offered to the kidnap victims' next of kin at what was "clearly a very distressing time for all concerned". The Iraqi government itself has got a few questions to answer about this. "It is not sensible at this stage to speculate on what might have happened," the statement said. "We are working closely with the Iraqi authorities to establish the facts and doing all we can to secure their swift and safe release."
British embassy officials in Iraq are following up the case and the Iraqi government has set up a special operations room. The British government convened an emergency meeting of its Cobra crisis management committee to discuss the issue on Tuesday afternoon.
The four kidnapped security guards were working for Canadian-owned security firm GardaWorld. The company is one of the biggest suppliers of private security in Iraq, and is mainly staffed by Britons. The computer expert was working for Bearingpoint, a US management consultancy which has worked on development projects in Iraq since 2003. As yet, no group has taken responsibility for the abduction.
This is thought to be the first time Westerners have been abducted from a government facility. BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said: "Because these men were very unusually seized from a government ministry in broad daylight by people dressed as special police commandoes, in an incredibly brazen raid, the Iraqi government itself has got a few questions to answer about this.
"I think the suspicion is that there was some connivance, possibly low or middle-level, within the police. The Iraqi police is known to be heavily infiltrated by Shia militias." BBC correspondent Jim Muir said similar abductions of large numbers of Iraqis had been blamed on Shia militias, but it was not being ruled out that Tuesday's raid could have been staged by Sunni insurgents. He said senior Iraqi officials said the kidnappers told guards at the Ministry of Finance building that they were from the Integrity Commission - the Iraqi government's internal watchdog.
Witnesses said that the street was sealed off at both ends and the kidnappers, in police camouflage uniforms, walked past guards at the finance ministry building on Palestine Street. A police source told the BBC that dozens of police vehicles were used in the operation. Frank Gardner said a team of experienced police hostage negotiators had already been assembled, and that extra staff had been flown to the British Embassy in Baghdad following the kidnappings.
Intense negotiations were going on with Iraqi officials, and US representatives in Iraq, he said. He added: "It's thought that it would be quite hard for them to abduct these people and take them too far from the area where they were seized without being detected. "So there will be back-channel contacts, SIS - the Secret Intelligence Service - will be involved in this, speaking to informers, trying to find out if anybody has seen anything suspicious, and trying to find out who they are dealing with here." About 200 foreigners of many different nationalities have been kidnapped in Iraq over the past four years, though the number has fallen dramatically since a few years ago.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that the Mehdi Army, rather than al-Qaeda, could be responsible.
The Anglican vicar of Baghdad, Canon Andrew White, said the kidnapping could be linked to the recent killing of a radical Shia cleric by UK troops.
The Britons were seized at a government building near Baghdad's Sadr City suburb, a Mehdi Army stronghold.
The five men - a computer expert and four bodyguards - were taken from the finance ministry building in Baghdad. The kidnappers wore police uniforms and staged the capture without firing a shot, senior Iraqi officials said.
Mr Zebari said the kidnappings represented a "very serious challenge... to the government itself". The kidnappers probably had connections with local police in the area, he told the BBC's Today programme. "The number of people who were involved in the operation, to seal all the buildings, to set roadblocks, to get into the building with such confidence, [they] must have some connection."
Canon Andrew White said there was "very likely a connection" between Tuesday's kidnappings and the death of Abu Qadir, also known as Wissam Waili, a leader of the Mehdi Army militia, who was killed in Basra on 25 May. He told the BBC: "The worrying thing is this is obviously not a case for ransom demand; economic hostage-taking is fairly easy to deal with. "The fact is that just last week, one [leader] of the most militant wing of the Mehdi Army was killed by the British troops, and we now see that there is very likely a connection between these two [events]."
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking during a trip to Libya, said: "We will do everything we possibly can to help." In a statement, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said support was being offered to the kidnap victims' next of kin at what was "clearly a very distressing time for all concerned". The Iraqi government itself has got a few questions to answer about this. "It is not sensible at this stage to speculate on what might have happened," the statement said. "We are working closely with the Iraqi authorities to establish the facts and doing all we can to secure their swift and safe release."
British embassy officials in Iraq are following up the case and the Iraqi government has set up a special operations room. The British government convened an emergency meeting of its Cobra crisis management committee to discuss the issue on Tuesday afternoon.
The four kidnapped security guards were working for Canadian-owned security firm GardaWorld. The company is one of the biggest suppliers of private security in Iraq, and is mainly staffed by Britons. The computer expert was working for Bearingpoint, a US management consultancy which has worked on development projects in Iraq since 2003. As yet, no group has taken responsibility for the abduction.
This is thought to be the first time Westerners have been abducted from a government facility. BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said: "Because these men were very unusually seized from a government ministry in broad daylight by people dressed as special police commandoes, in an incredibly brazen raid, the Iraqi government itself has got a few questions to answer about this.
"I think the suspicion is that there was some connivance, possibly low or middle-level, within the police. The Iraqi police is known to be heavily infiltrated by Shia militias." BBC correspondent Jim Muir said similar abductions of large numbers of Iraqis had been blamed on Shia militias, but it was not being ruled out that Tuesday's raid could have been staged by Sunni insurgents. He said senior Iraqi officials said the kidnappers told guards at the Ministry of Finance building that they were from the Integrity Commission - the Iraqi government's internal watchdog.
Witnesses said that the street was sealed off at both ends and the kidnappers, in police camouflage uniforms, walked past guards at the finance ministry building on Palestine Street. A police source told the BBC that dozens of police vehicles were used in the operation. Frank Gardner said a team of experienced police hostage negotiators had already been assembled, and that extra staff had been flown to the British Embassy in Baghdad following the kidnappings.
Intense negotiations were going on with Iraqi officials, and US representatives in Iraq, he said. He added: "It's thought that it would be quite hard for them to abduct these people and take them too far from the area where they were seized without being detected. "So there will be back-channel contacts, SIS - the Secret Intelligence Service - will be involved in this, speaking to informers, trying to find out if anybody has seen anything suspicious, and trying to find out who they are dealing with here." About 200 foreigners of many different nationalities have been kidnapped in Iraq over the past four years, though the number has fallen dramatically since a few years ago.
Labels: abduction, Abu Qadir, Baghdad, Basra, Bearingpoint, Canon Andrew White, Cobra, GardaWorld, Hoshyar Zibari, Mahdi Army, Ministry of Finance, Wissam Waili
