Iraqi insurgents on Monday kidnapped an American and up to five others in an audacious attack on a house in western Baghdad.
An interior ministry source said the militants approached the villa in the Mansour district in three cars, and that the hostages were taken after a 20-minute gunbattle.
”They were heavily armed. There was a fierce firefight during which one guard was killed and one of the hostage takers was killed,” said the source. Three of the hostages were Arabs, while a fourth was from Asia.
Mansour is the area from which the Briton Ken Bigley was seized.
The latest kidnap came as splits began to appear within the Iraqi leadership over plans to launch an all-out assault on the rebel-held town of Fallujah.
The interim president, Ghazi al-Yawar, has rejected the coalition’s handling of the crisis.
Al-Yawar told the Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas: ”I completely disagree with those who see a need to decide [Fallujah] through military action.”
He added: ”The coalition’s handling of this crisis is wrong. It’s like someone who fired bullets at his horse’s head just because a fly landed on it; the horse died and the fly went away.”
His remarks seemed a direct challenge to the interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi.
On Sunday, Allawi warned Falluja leaders of imminent military action unless they agreed to cease insurgent activity, allow Iraqi security forces into the city and hand over foreign fighters loyal to the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al- Zarqawi.
Iraqi and US officials believe the city is a base for up to 5 000 Islamist militants, Saddam Hussein loyalists and violent criminal gangs.
US forces have been battling militants in Ramadi and Fallujah daily, but have held back from an all-out offensive, saying the final decision rests with the Iraqi prime minister.
Under the interim constitution passed in March, the presidency has limited powers, but many Iraqis see it as important for its symbolic value.
The 45-year-old US-educated moderate Sunni and former exile has strong ties to Washington, although he has been sharply critical of the coalition. He also pointed a finger at neighbouring Iran.
”Iran is playing a negative role in Iraq,” he said. ”It is behind the assassination of more than 18 Iraqi intelligence officers and is also playing a negative role in southern Iraq.”
The United States on Monday pounded suspected rebel positions in Fallujah, while fierce fighting raged between US forces and insurgents in nearby Ramadi.
Local hospital officials said three people died in the clashes, including an Iraqi cameraman with Reuters.
The agency said Dhia Najim was shot in the head as he filmed fighting near his house in the Andalus district. His footage showed gun flashes and smoke as US Humvees sped across a junction.
Religious and community leaders in the restive cities north and west of Baghdad fear an all-out attack could backfire, provoking a general uprising among Iraq’s once all-powerful Sunni minority and threatening the elections.
”What’s needed is that the coalition forces continue dialogue so that the Iraqi armed forces will come, which will prompt those on the sidelines not to join the rebels… ” al-Yawar said.
The US said on Tuesday it had begun to increase troop numbers in Iraq to provide security for the January poll.
A rise in the 160 000-strong multinational force is aimed at preventing rebels from trying to derail the poll, a US army spokesperson said. He declined to say how many US troops would be on the ground for the elections. The US already has about 138 000 troops in Iraq.
In Baghdad, another senior official fell victim to a wave of assassinations targeting Iraqis seen to be collaborating with US-led forces.
Hatem Karim, the capital’s deputy governor, was killed and two of his bodyguards were wounded in a drive-by shooting in the al-Dora district south of the city.
The Army of Ansar al-Sunna militant group claimed responsibility.
Black Watch troops came under bombardment on Monday as rebels stepped up rocket attacks against their desert base at Camp Dogwood. The army said seven rockets were fired on Monday morning in the first daylight attacks since the controversial deployment on Friday. – Guardian Unlimited Â