The kidnappers of more than 100 Iraqi government employees freed about half of their hostages on Thursday, releasing all their Sunni captives in a clear sign the seizure had been sectarian in nature. The industry ministry workers were snatched by gunmen on Wednesday after their shift ended at a factory north of Baghdad.
More than 100 employees of Iraq’s Ministry of Industry were kidnapped by gunmen north of Baghdad as they left work on Wednesday in a brazen reminder of the country’s dire security situation. The mass-abduction came on the same day that the executed body of one of deposed leader Saddam Hussein’s lawyers was found in the capital.
Gunmen wearing commando uniforms snatched at least 50 people from travel agencies in central Baghdad on Monday in an apparent kidnapping as 11 students were shot dead elsewhere in the capital. The commander of the police commandos, Major General Rashid Fulayah, strongly contradicted earlier reports that the operation was officially sanctioned.
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/ 28 February 2006
Bombers killed more than 30 people, including two British soldiers, in Iraq on Tuesday as tanks guarded Sunni mosques amid fears of a new outbreak of sectarian violence. Three bombs went off in quick succession in Shi’ite areas of Baghdad, killing at least 33 people and wounding more than 100.
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/ 21 February 2006
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was to hold talks on Tuesday with incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and President Jalal Talabani amid a raging controversy of alleged abuse of Iraqi youths by British soldiers. Straw arrived unannounced in Baghdad late on Monday.
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/ 17 February 2006
One of the wealthiest men in Iraq and his son were kidnapped from their luxury home in a bloody abduction that saw their five bodyguards murdered and laid out in the front garden — each with a bullet wound to the head, police said on Friday. The kidnapping comes amid a spree of hostage-taking over the past months of both foreigners and of large numbers of Iraqis.
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/ 14 February 2006
Ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on Tuesday told the court trying him on charges of crimes against humanity that he and his co-defendants have launched a hunger strike. ”We have been on a hunger strike for three days,” Saddam declared as the trial resumed for its 12th hearing since its opened in October. ”Long live the great Arab nation” and ”long live the mujahideen,” he shouted.
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/ 13 February 2006
A feisty Saddam Hussein sparred with the judge in his trial on charges of crimes against humanity on Monday after telling the court he had been dragged back before the tribunal against his wishes. ”This is not a court this is a game,” Saddam shouted, pounding on a podium in the dock.
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/ 2 February 2006
The trial of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and his former cohorts on charges of crimes against humanity was adjourned to February 13 after all defendants boycotted Thursday’s hearing. The absence of Saddam and his seven co-accused was the latest setback to mar the unruly trial since it opened in a blaze of publicity in October
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/ 12 October 2005
Iraq’s top leaders formally announced on Wednesday a last-ditch political deal aimed at securing the adoption of a post-Saddam Hussein Constitution in a national referendum just three days away. Despite the political accord, violence continued on the ground.