Pakistan appeals for release of official held in Iraq

BAGHDAD - Pakistan appealed on Sunday for the safe release of an official in its Baghdad embassy who was seized by an insurgent group in the latest kidnapping of a foreigner in Iraq's lawless capital.

Officials said Malik Mohammad Javed, an assistant at the embassy, vanished after going to a mosque to pray on Saturday.

"I appeal to the kidnappers to release Malik Mohammad Javed. He is a civilian member of the embassy staff," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a news conference. "The government of Pakistan strongly condemns this incident."

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Javed had contacted the Baghdad embassy to say he was unharmed. "Persons claiming to be members of Omar bin Khattab group have apparently kidnapped the official," it said in a statement released in Islamabad.

Insurgent groups and criminal gangs have abducted scores of foreigners in Iraq seeking to pressure foreign troops to leave or to earn ransom. Thousands of Iraqis have also been kidnapped.

The Omar bin Khattab group has not previously been heard of or claimed responsibility for other kidnappings.

Pakistan was a key US ally in its fight against al Qaeda but opposed the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Last year insurgents kidnapped and killed two Pakistani truck drivers, accusing them of working with US forces in Iraq.

Putting a stop to rampant kidnapping is one of the major challenges facing Iraq's post-election government.

The new government is slowly taking shape -- Shi'ite leader Ibrahim Jaafari was named as the new prime minister last week, with Kurdish former guerrilla Jalal Talabani named president. The cabinet line-up has yet to be formalized.

Outgoing Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Sunday his parliamentary bloc would join the next government and was negotiating on how many cabinet posts it would receive. Allawi had previously indicated he would not join the government.

"Iyad Allawi decided his bloc will take part in the new government because he believes in making the political and democratic process in Iraqi successful," his spokesman said.

Political squabbling has delayed the formation of Iraq's new government, frustrating many Iraqis who expected their new leaders to swiftly fight violence and come up with a plan to rebuild the shattered economy of the major oil producer.

WAVE OF KIDNAPPINGS

More than 150 foreigners have been taken hostage in Iraq in the past year. Many have eventually been released but dozens have been killed, sometimes by beheading. Iraq's human rights minister said last week that 5,000 Iraqis had been abducted.

Three journalists from staunch US ally Romania and their translator, who has triple American, Romanian and Iraqi nationality, were kidnapped in Baghdad last month.

French journalist Florence Aubenas and her driver were taken hostage after leaving their Baghdad hotel in January.

Little is known about their fate since then, but Iraqi insurgents released video footage of Aubenas in March. Looking distraught and fragile, she made a desperate appeal for help.

Video footage of the Romanian captives has also surfaced.

An Egyptian diplomat was seized by insurgents on his way home from prayers last year but was freed a few days later.

Iraqi forces are struggling to contain insurgent violence, including suicide bombings, shootings and kidnappings.

Gunmen killed a member of SCIRI, a leading Shi'ite Muslim political party, and seriously wounded another in a drive-by shooting in the capital on Sunday. Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said in an internet statement it was behind the killing.

The group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also claimed it had kidnapped and killed a senior Iraqi police officer, according to internet postings.

It posted a picture of an identification card bearing the name Brigadier General Basem Mohammed Kadem and designating him as head of police in the holy city of Najaf.

One Iraqi soldier was killed and two seriously wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near an army checkpoint on the main road between the northern city of Kirkuk and Baghdad early on Sunday, the Iraqi army said.

The government said it had captured Ibrahim Sabawi, son of Saddam Hussein's half brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti who was himself captured in February. It said the younger Sabawi was suspected of financing insurgents.

(additional reporting by Aref Mohammad in Kirkuk and Tahir Ikram)

- REUTERS