BAGHDAD, Iraq – Gunmen stormed the compound of a Saudi company in a fashionable Baghdad neighborhood Monday, seizing an American, a Nepalese and four Iraqis after a gunbattle in which a guard and one of the assailants were killed, police said.
The American, who was not identified, was the 12th U.S. citizen reported kidnapped or missing in Iraq. He was grabbed about 500 yards from the house where two Americans and a Briton were kidnapped last month; all three were beheaded.
The kidnappers stormed the two-story house, which is surrounded by an outer wall with iron bars, in a hail of gunfire and forced the victims to leave with them. There were conflicting reports on the number taken but Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said they were one American, a Nepalese and four Iraqis.
Elsewhere, gunmen assassinated the deputy governor of Baghdad while to the west of the capital U.S. troops clashed with Sunni insurgents in Ramadi, killing an Iraqi freelance television camera operator. American artillery pounded suspected insurgent positions in Fallujah, and residents reported air and artillery attacks there late Monday.
But Prime Minister Ayad Allawi came under new pressure, this time from Iraq’s president, to forgo an all-out American assault on Fallujah and other Sunni insurgent strongholds. U.S. and Iraqi officials hope to curb the insurgency in time for national elections in January.
In an interview published Monday by the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas, interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni, said he disagreed “with those who believe a military attack is necessary.”
“The way the coalition is managing the crisis is wrong,” al-Yawer said. “It is as if someone shot his horse in the head to kill a fly that landed on it. The fly flies away and the horse dies.”
Early Monday, gunmen opened fire on a car carrying Baghdad province’s deputy governor, Hatim Kamil, killing him and wounding his two bodyguards, officials said. A militant group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, claimed responsibility for the attack in southeastern Baghdad.
“This is the fate of whoever is aiding or supporting the crusaders against the Muslims and mujahedeen,” the group said on its Web site. It was impossible to verify the claim’s authenticity.
Heavy clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents continued in Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold 70 miles west of Baghdad. On Monday, a woman was killed and her two children injured, hospital officials in Ramadi said. Also killed was an Iraqi freelance television cameraman, Diaa Najm, believed to be the 24th journalist killed in Iraq this year.
Meanwhile, election officials on Monday launched an aggressive voter- registration program to prepare for January balloting, handing out forms to Iraqis at markets.
Officials began distributing about 14 million forms to people who turned in their food-ration cards for subsidized baskets of rice, flour, tea and other staples.
On an Islamist Web site, Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi warned that any Iraqis involved in the vote “will feel our sword slaughter their head.”
U.S. military deaths
The latest identifications reported by the U.S. military of personnel recently killed in Iraq:
Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremy D. Bow, 20; Lemoore, Calif.; Lance Cpl. John T. Byrd II, 23; Fairview, W.V.; Lance Cpl. Travis A. Fox, 25; Cowpens, S.C.; Cpl. Christopher J. Lapka, 22; Peoria, Ariz.; Pfc. John Lukac, 19; Las Vegas; Pfc. Andrew G. Riedel, 19; Northglenn, Colo.; Lance Cpl. Michael P. Scarborough, 28; Washington, Ga.; and Sgt. Kelley L. Courtney, 28, Macon, Ga.; all killed Saturday in Anbar province; all but Courtney assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base, Hawaii; Courtney assigned to 3rd Intelligence Battalion, III MEF, Okinawa, Japan.
U.S. military deaths
The latest identifications reported by the U.S. military of personnel recently killed in Iraq:
Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremy D. Bow, 20; Lemoore, Calif.; Lance Cpl. John T. Byrd II, 23; Fairview, W.V.; Lance Cpl. Travis A. Fox, 25; Cowpens, S.C.; Cpl. Christopher J. Lapka, 22; Peoria, Ariz.; Pfc. John Lukac, 19; Las Vegas; Pfc. Andrew G. Riedel, 19; Northglenn, Colo.; Lance Cpl. Michael P. Scarborough, 28; Washington, Ga.; and Sgt. Kelley L. Courtney, 28, Macon, Ga.; all killed Saturday in Anbar province; all but Courtney assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base, Hawaii; Courtney assigned to 3rd Intelligence Battalion, III MEF, Okinawa, Japan.
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