BAGHDAD, 11 April 2005 — Two groups claimed yesterday to have kidnapped a Pakistani Embassy employee and a senior Iraqi police official during separate abductions in Baghdad, while the country’s most feared terrorist organization issued an Internet statement rejecting any efforts by the new government to make peace.
The previously unknown Omar ibn Khattab group claimed responsibility for kidnapping Malik Mohammed Javed, a consular and community affairs employee, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said. Javed went missing late Saturday after he left his Baghdad home to attend prayers at a nearby mosque.
In a statement, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said Javed called the embassy to tell them he had not been harmed. The kidnappers’ demands weren’t immediately clear.
The kidnapping comes nearly nine months after insurgents abducted and killed two Pakistanis working for a Kuwaiti company in Iraq. Their abductors had demanded that Pakistan — a predominantly Muslim nation — promise not to send any troops to Iraq.
Pakistan, a key US ally in the war against terrorism, has refused to deploy peacekeepers and has urged its citizens to avoid coming here.
Also yesterday, the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi, claimed to have kidnapped and killed Najaf police Brig. Gen. Bassem Mohammed Kadhim Al-Jazaari while he was visiting Baghdad.
“He has been interrogated,” said the statement, which could not be independently verified. “After his confessions, God’s verdict was carried out against him.”
Interior Ministry official Capt. Ahmed Ismael said Al-Jazaari was kidnapped late Saturday in western Baghdad, but he had no other details.
In a separate statement, the same group rejected interim President Jalal Talabani’s attempts to reach out to Iraqi insurgents. Talabani’s call was not directed at foreign fighters.
“Oh, you agents of the Jews and the Christians, we have nothing for you but the sword,” the statement said. “We will not stop fighting.”
In the ongoing battle against Saddam Hussein’s former regime, the Iraqi government announced yesterday that security forces had arrested Ibrahim Sabaawi, the son of Saddam’s half brother, near Baghdad. The statement said Sabaawi was close to the former regime. “Until his arrest, he had been supporting terrorists and providing them with finances,” it said. It was unclear when the arrest took place.
Iraq’s National Assembly also met and called for relaxing security measures that have snarled traffic and closed much of central Baghdad during their sessions. The government must still approve the request.
Many residents have complained about the increased security in a city already under tight control. Some lawmakers said yesterday they had been insulted and mistreated by Iraqi police at checkpoints, and one female lawmaker said weapons had been confiscated by police.
“These measures are highly exaggerated and they hinder the work of the employees and the movement of the citizens,” Parliament Speaker Hajim Al-Hassani said. “We asked the security officials to relax these measures.”
Qassim Dawoud, Iraq’s minister of state for national security, said the measures were necessary as long as the assembly continued to convene at the same location. Officials have proposed moving to a new building being used by the Defense Ministry, but it was unclear when they would begin meeting there.
There next session was scheduled for today at the city’s tightly controlled convention center.
Underscoring security concerns, a car bomb exploded yesterday near a US convoy in Baghdad, injuring four civilians, Iraqi police Lt. Ali Hussein said.
— With input from agencies
