DUBAI - An Iraqi insurgent group claimed on Sunday the kidnapping of four Iranians on a religious mission to the war-torn country, according to a video shown on Al-Arabiya channel. âInitial investigation confirmed they were dispatched on an official mission by the hawza (religious authority) in Qom,â said the channelâs anchorman, reading a statement from a group called the Saad bin Abi Waqas Brigades.| Gosh golly, that's awful. |
The insurgent group, which has previously claimed attacks on US and Iraqi forces, gave no motive for the kidnapping and made no demands, Al-Arabiya said. The source, however, clarified that the four Iranians, kidnapped on November 28 near Balad, had not been released as wrongly announced on November 30.
An official at the Iranian embassy in Baghdad told AFP that diplomats had no information on the kidnapping, other than seeing the video on Al-Arabiya. âThe four are still hostages. Only two women have been released,â the diplomat said.
Six Iranian pilgrims, four men and two women, were kidnapped by gunmen as they were visiting Shia shrines in Balad and Samarra, also north of Baghdad. The two women were released a day later.
Balad, a mixed Shia-Sunni town, is home to the tomb of Ali bin Mohammed al-Naqi, the eighth of the 12 Shia imams. It is a popular stopping point for the hundreds of thousands of Iranian pilgrims who have travelled to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 to visit the countryâs holy shrines.