For the first time in the conflict in Iraq, insurgents here have kidnapped a diplomat, identified Friday as the third-ranking official at the Egyptian Embassy here, in a continuing spate of abductions aimed at American allies and nations that might assist the new interim Iraqi government. Kidnappers here have apparently been emboldened by the Philippine government’s decision to withdraw its 51 troops in Iraq in exchange for the life of a Filipino truck driver. Two days after the final Filipino soldier left on Monday, insurgents kidnapped seven more truck drivers – three from Kenya, three from India and one from Egypt – and threatened to behead one every three days unless their demands were met. On Friday, the Arab news channel Al Jazeera showed a man identified as Muhammad Mamdouh Qutb, of the Egyptian Embassy here, seated in a chair before six men dressed in black, at least one of them armed, with white headbands. The kidnappers, calling themselves the Lions of God Battalions in Iraq, demanded that Egyptians not assist American forces in Iraq.Full Story
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