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Kidnappers snatch american in bold baghdad raid Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10076335.htmhttp://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10076335.htm
Posted on Tue, Nov. 02, 2004
Kidnappers snatch American, three others in bold Baghdad raid
By Edward Wong
New York Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Kidnappers armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades stormed an office in western Baghdad on Monday, overpowering the armed guards and snatching four people, including an American, Iraqi police officials said.
One Iraqi guard and one attacker were killed, officials said. Besides the American, those taken hostage were a Nepalese and two Arabs from outside Iraq.
``They stormed the villa with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades,'' one police official told Reuters. ``They had no chance.''
News agencies reported that the four captives worked for the Saudi Arabian Trading and Contracting Co., a Riyadh-based company owned by Saudi and Lebanese businessmen that supplies American forces in Iraq, though there was no immediate confirmation of this.
The American was not identified, and by early today no one had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
Earlier on Monday, gunmen ambushed and killed the deputy governor of Baghdad province, Hatim Kamil, as he drove to work. Two of Kamil's bodyguards were wounded, the police said. Insurgents have stepped up a campaign of assassinations against Iraqi government officials, a tactic that is slowly draining the country of its skilled bureaucrats and has American military officials increasingly worried.
In the provincial capital of Ar-Ramadi, a freelance cameraman working for Reuters was killed, apparently by a sniper, possibly a Marine. The violence across Iraq unfolded as negotiations continued over a peace agreement to avert an expected American invasion of Al-Fallujah, the insurgent stronghold 35 miles west of the capital. In an interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper, the Iraqi president, Ghazi al-Yawer, said talks must continue, and that insurgents ``want nothing but a military solution and the continuation of bleeding for Iraqis.''
His comments were a sharp contrast to those of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who on Sunday warned that time was running out for a peaceful solution and that he was quite willing to order an invasion.
``I completely disagree with those who see a need to decide the matter through military action,'' the president told the daily Al-Qabas. ``The coalition's handling of this crisis is wrong. It's like someone who shoots at his horse's head just because a fly has landed on it. The fly escapes and the horse is dead.''
Early today, the American military said it had conducted an airstrike around midnight in Al-Fallujah that had destroyed a weapons cache. The Marines have been carrying out airstrikes on the city almost daily and have been amassing forces in the area in what is seen as a prelude to an expected attempt to sweep through both Al-Fallujah and Ar-Ramadi, 30 miles farther west. Military commanders say they believe thousands of insurgents are building up fortifications in Al-Fallujah. With Iraq's first general elections scheduled for January, American and Iraqi officials say major rebel cities must be brought under government control to ensure wide voter turnout and legitimate results.
About 4,000 new U.S. troops began arriving in Iraq on Monday to reinforce the 138,000 troops already there in advance of the January elections.
Voter and party registration began on Monday across Iraq. Adel al-Lami, a supervisor at the Iraqi electoral commission, said a ``very limited'' number of parties showed up in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone to register as it was only the first day. The deadline is the end of the month.
Voter registration seemed somewhat problematic. An estimated 14 million Iraqis are eligible to vote, and registration lists are supposed to be presented to the heads of households at centers where Iraqis go to collect their monthly food rations. But an Iraqi reporter who went to 10 of those centers in Baghdad found no lists being given out, although people were walking out of the centers with rice, sugar, milk and other foodstuffs.
At four of the food distribution centers, in the Sunni-dominated Adhamiya neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraqis received notices informing them of the importance of taking part in the elections.
Asked about the absence of registration lists, Lami said he was surprised. ``I'll check on it,'' he said. ``As far as I know, they should be distributed with the food rations today.''
In Ar-Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, a cameraman, Dhia Najim, was killed while covering fighting, Reuters reported. He was a freelancer from Ar-Ramadi and had worked for the Associated Press and Reuters, among other news agencies. His death was under investigation.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, estimated that 36 journalists had been killed in the war, including 19 dying from insurgent actions and at least eight from American fire.
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