29/05/2007

Britons seized in Baghdad

Five Britons are reported to have been abducted by gunmen in a finance ministry building in central Baghdad.

It is believed that four bodyguards and their client, a finance expert, were taken after around 40 gunmen turned up at the building.

A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said: "We are aware of reports that a group of Westerners have been kidnapped. We are urgently looking into them."

Initially it was reported that three western lecturers, thought to be American or German, had been kidnapped. It had also been reported that the finance expert was German.

The bodyguards are believed to have been working for Canadian firm GardaWorld. The firm confirmed that it was looking into an "incident", but would not give any more details.

(KMcA/JM)




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