At Least 80 Factory Workers Kidnapped in Iraq
21 June 2006
At least 80 Iraqi factory workers have been kidnapped in Taji, north of Baghdad.
Security officials say gunmen in several vehicles seized buses transporting the workers home after finishing their shift Wednesday. The employees work for companies that fall under the ministry of industry.
In Baghdad, unknown assailants killed one of Saddam Hussein's senior defense lawyers. Police say Khamis al-Obaidi's body was found in Baghdad after he was abducted at his home. Another defense lawyer said Saddam and his seven co-defendants have begun a hunger strike to protest the killing.
In other developments, a car bomb in Baghdad's Shi'ite neighborhood of Sadr City killed two people. The U.S. military said Iraqi troops captured a "high-level" insurgent, Noori Abu Hayder al-Oqabi, during a raid in the capital.
Also today, the Russian foreign ministry called on Iraqi insurgents to spare the lives of four embassy workers who were kidnapped in Baghdad earlier this month.
The Mujahideen Shura Council, an umbrella group linked to al-Qaida in Iraq, announced today that it will kill the Russians because Moscow has not agreed to withdraw from Chechnya.
The group made the announcement on an Internet Web site.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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