Iraqi minister kidnapped in Baghdad
The town of Hilla has suffered several major attacks this year
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Sunday, 19, Nov 2006 08:04
A senior minister in the Iraqi government has been abducted from his home in Baghdad.
Ammar al-Saffar, deputy health minister in the government of prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, was kidnapped at approximately 17:30 local time (14:30 GMT), shortly after sunset.
Reports suggest that at least 20 gunmen were present in the raid, some possibly dressed as state police, and that they arrived in at least five vehicles. Mr Saffar survived a previous assassination attempt in 2004.
Meanwhile in Iraq the Syrian foreign minister is paying his government's first visit to Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
Walid al-Moualem's trip to Baghdad is seen as significant because it signals a willingness on the part of the Syrian government to engage more closely in the fate of its troubled neighbour.
Earlier today at least 22 construction labourers died in the town of Hilla after a car bomb exploded as they queued for work.
The blast occurred at around 07:00 local time (04:00 GMT) as workers waited to be employed in the Bab al-Hussein area of Hilla, a town about 60 miles south of Baghdad.
Forty-nine people were wounded in the bombing, which involved the attacker arriving at the scene in a minibus or minivan packed with explosives. The workers gathered around the vehicle before it blew up, according to media reports.
"The sudden explosion shook the whole area and shattered the windows of a store I was standing outside of nearby," Muhsin Hadi Alwan, a wounded labourer, told the Associated Press news agency.
"The ground was covered with the remains of people and blood, and survivors ran in all directions."
Today's attack reflects a technique used in a bombing which took place in Baghdad last Sunday, when around 35 people died after police recruits queuing to be enlisted in Iraq's security services were killed by two suicide bombers.