BAGHDAD, Iraq – Militants kidnapped a senior Egyptian diplomat as he left a mosque Friday and demanded his country abandon any plans to send security experts to support Iraq’s new government, according to a video broadcast on the Al-Jazeera television station.
Mohammed Mamdouh Helmi Qutb was the first diplomat taken hostage in Iraq, and his capture signaled that insurgents are targeting more influential foreigners.
Earlier Friday, U.S. forces launched a strike targeting 10 to 12 suspected terrorists tied to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant blamed for attacks against foreigners in Iraq. The suspects were gathered in the courtyard of house in Fallujah, the U.S. command said. The military did not mention casualties, but a hospital official said the attack wounded five civilians, including three children.
The abduction of the diplomat threatened to undermine efforts of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday to persuade Arab and Muslim countries to provide troops to protect the U.N. mission in Iraq.
A separate militant group holding seven foreign truck drivers, including one Egyptian, announced a new set of demands in a new video, insisting that their Kuwaiti employer pay compensation to those killed by U.S. forces in the city of Fallujah. They have threatened to begin beheading the hostages starting today.
The practice of beheading hostages has stirred opposition in Iraq, with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led a two-month uprising against U.S. forces beginning in April, joining the criticism Friday.
“We condemn what some people are doing regarding the beheading of prisoners and it is illegal according to Islamic law,” al-Sadr said at the Kufa mosque south of Baghdad, where he led Friday prayers. “Anybody doing this is a criminal and we will punish him according to Islamic law.”
Al-Sadr’s word carries weight with many within the country’s Shiite majority but is essentially meaningless to the Sunni Muslims believed responsible for many of the kidnappings and killings.
Militants have kidnapped roughly 70 foreigners, many of them poorly guarded truck drivers, in recent months in an effort to force countries to withdraw troops from Iraq and to scare away contractors working on reconstruction projects. At least three hostages have been beheaded.
Only days earlier, Qutb had embraced freed Egyptian truck driver Alsayeid Mohammed Alsayeid Algarabawi, who was released by a different militant group Monday.
An Egyptian diplomat in Baghdad, who declined to be identified, said Qutb was abducted Friday as he left a mosque. The black-clad militants, calling themselves “The Lions of Allah Brigade,” claimed they abducted Qutb because Egypt said it was prepared to deploy security experts to help Iraq’s interim government, according to Al-Jazeera. No specific threat against Qutb was mentioned.
Egypt has offered to train Iraqi police and security personnel in Egypt, but declined to deploy military forces in Iraq.
In the video – narrated by a news reader – Qutb is seated in front of six masked men, some holding rifles. He said he was being treated well, adding that the Egyptian mission in Baghdad was not cooperating with the U.S.-led multinational force and was only trying to help the reconstruction of Iraq, according to the newscaster.
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