Frenchman seized: Gunmen have abducted a French engineer in western Baghdad, Iraqi police said today, adding to a wave of recent kidnappings of Westerners.
The kidnappers surrounded the Frenchman in three cars as he was driving from a house in the wealthy Mansour district of Baghdad to his job at the Risafa Water Plant, in the center of the capital, police Capt. Qassim Hussein said.
The man worked for a French company that had a contract with the Eastern Baghdad Water Co. to work on a sewage project, police said.
Four Westerners were taken hostage in Baghdad last week: Norman Kember, a 74-year-old from Britain; Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va.; and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32. The four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams were seized by the previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigade.
The kidnappers have threatened to kill the hostages if Iraqi prisoners are not released from American and Iraqi jails by Thursday, Al-Jazeera reported.
Troop withdrawal: The United States may be ready to reduce troops in Iraq next year if Iraqis continue making progress at the current rate, President Bush's national security adviser said yesterday. Stephen Hadley appeared on a round of Sunday talk shows to follow up on Bush's speech on Iraq from the U.S. Naval Academy last week. Hadley echoed Bush's statement that decisions about troop withdrawals would be made when U.S. commanders there felt Iraqis were ready to govern and protect themselves without U.S. help, but said that could come as early as next year.
Soldiers killed: Two U.S. soldiers were killed and several others wounded when their convoy was attacked in a roadside bombing in a southeastern suburb of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
Insurgent casualties: Twenty insurgents were killed and 75 suspects detained in an Iraqi army raid at Udaim, near Baquba, the Defense Ministry said. Police said soldiers accused the police of failing to help a unit that was attacked Saturday when 19 Iraqi soldiers were killed. Police Col. Hamed Hussein said U.S. aircraft were bombing in the area. The U.S. military had no comment.
Two other insurgents were killed after they fired on an army patrol near Balad on Saturday, the U.S. military said. Soldiers engaged the insurgents and two U.S. Air Force F-16 jets dropped laser-guided bombs, the military said.
Fatal attacks: Two Iraqi policemen were killed when gunmen attacked their patrol in Ahmar village, about 25 miles east of Baquba, police said.
Two people were killed, including a policeman, when a bomb planted on the side of the road exploded in Zarkuush, a village 43 miles east of Baquba, police said. The target of the bomb was not clear.
Two civilians were killed and 26 wounded when a bomb placed under a car exploded in central Baghdad, a police source said. The target of the explosion was not clear.
Wounded: Two police officers were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad yesterday, police said.
Five members of the Iraqi security forces were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near their patrol in Iskandariya.
