AP: Gunmen kidnap 20 Iraqi gov't employees

[Eugene]

Posted on Wed, Jul. 19, 2006

Gunmen kidnap 20 Iraqi gov't employees

Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen kidnapped 20 employees of a government agency Wednesday
that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines nationwide, and the organization has
suspended its work until further notice, an official said.

Employees of the Sunni Endowment were seized as they drove from Baghdad to their
homes in Taji, just north of the capital, spokesman Mahdi al-Mashhadani said.
He also said the agency would stop work effective immediately.

The head of the Sunni Endowment, Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie, was to give
further details later in the day, al-Mashhadani said.

The Sunni Endowment is a major institution within the Sunni community, and the
kidnapping will further sharpen sectarian tensions that are pushing the country
toward civil war.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/15072709.htm

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