Gunmen snatched three British citizens, believed to be civilians, from a house in central Baghdad early on Thursday, Iraq's Interior Ministry said. The men were staying at a house in the al-Mansur district of the capital, a wealthy neighborhood where many foreign businessmen and contractors live, when the armed men stormed the building shortly after dawn. Interior Ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdel-Rahman said no shots were fired as the men were taken. He quoted witnesses as saying the men were bundled into a minivan by the hostage takers and driven off. He said he believed they were civilians, but there was no confirmation. British Embassy officials in Baghdad said they were trying to confirm the reports. "We have no information at all on this. We are looking into it urgently," a Foreign Office spokeswoman in London told Reuters.
Several security firms and other small foreign businesses have their headquarters in Mansur. Most are protected by armed guards, but others have a more low-key security presence. Most foreign nationals in Baghdad except journalists live in the Green Zone, a heavily fortified complex on the banks of the Tigris protected by U.S. troops. |