SEOUL (Reuters) - Seven South Korean members of a church group have been taken hostage by armed men in Iraq (news - web sites), the South Korean foreign ministry said on Thursday.
An Iraqi group detained the seven church ministers earlier on Thursday near Baghdad. One female member escaped, the ministry said in a statement.
The identity of the group and whereabouts of the Koreans were not known, it said.
Kim Sang-mee, who escaped the gunmen, told South Korea (news - web sites)'s MBC TV that several Iraqis armed with guns and dressed like civilians stopped cars and took away the rest of her group, which had been on its way to Baghdad from Jordan.
"We told them we're Koreans several times, but they didn't care," Kim said.
The South Korean government has asked the Iraqi foreign ministry and U.S. authorities in the country help to find the seven hostages.
U.S.-ally South Korea has 600 military engineers and medics in Iraq and plans to send 3,000 more for reconstruction.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20040408/wl_nm/iraq_korea_dc
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