Official says Britons' captors posed as government workers, overpowered guards

[maddezmom]

Source: CNN

Official says Britons' captors posed as government workers, overpowered guards
BAGHDAD (CNN) -- The kidnappers who seized five Britons and two Iraqis on Tuesday were posing as guards and government workers on official business, Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabr said Friday.

When they arrived at the finance ministry building, a computer and technology center far from the ministry's headquarters, some were wearing Iraqi Security Force uniforms and others were in civilian clothing with Integrity Commission badges, Jabr said. The commission's role is to battle government corruption.

The building was secured by guards from the Facility Protection Services who were not qualified, Jabr said.

He said he was told four British security guards were outside the room where a western computer expert was giving a lecture. The kidnappers overpowered the guards, then went into the room and seized the expert, he said. (Posted 2:24 p.m.)



Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/05/31/thursday/index.html

[maddezmom]

1. Britain mulling Iranian help in Iraq hostage hunt: report

LONDON (AFP) - London is considering approaching Tehran for help in finding five Britons kidnapped in Baghdad, The Guardian newspaper said Friday, citing officials.

The possibility was raised Thursday at a meeting of COBRA, the government's crisis cell, the daily said.

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Well-placed British officials reckon the Mahdi army is made up of different groups, not all of which are under Sadr's influence, The Guardian said.

Secret rogue cells in the militia are known to have links with Iran's Revolutionary Guards, though the unnamed officials also said these could operate without Iranian help, the daily said.

Meanwhile the newspaper cited an unnamed senior Iraqi foreign ministry official as saying they did not think Sadr ordered the operation, but were almost certain that militia professing loyalty to him were involved.


more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070601/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestkidnapbritainiran_070601052737;_ylt=Aq.nGT9DQS4Pmpal7ZId22CQOrgF

[maddezmom]

2. Britons' captors could demand swap

Britons' captors could demand swap
By Damien McElroy in Baquba, northern Iraq and Nick Britten
Last Updated: 5:18am BST 31/05/2007



The five Britons captured in Iraq could be used as bargaining tools to secure the release of hundreds of Shia prisoners of war being held in Basra, it was disclosed last night.


~snip~


A senior official in the Mahdi army militia told The Daily Telegraph that the captives - four security guards and a computer expert - had been taken to put pressure on Tony Blair and George Bush.

"We are holding the British until they release our brothers from Camp Bucca in Basra," the cell commander said. "There are hundreds there under British security, some of them for years. When they are released the British will be allowed to go."

Hundreds of US and Iraqi troops carried out raids yesterday in Sadr City - the Baghdad Shia suburb which is a Mahdi army stronghold - as more information about the kidnap became clear.


more:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/31/wirq31.xml