Holy Crap

Gunmen Kidnap Scores at Baghdad Office

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen dressed as police commandos kidnapped scores of staff and visitors in a lightning raid on an education ministry office Tuesday in one of the biggest mass abductions since the start of the U.S. occupation. Five senior police officers — including the neighborhood police chief — were arrested, the government said.

At least 82 people were killed or found dead in murders, bombings and clashes nationwide.

Alaa Makki, head of parliament's education committee, interrupted the legislative session Tuesday morning to say that between 100 and 150 people, both Shiites and Sunnis, had been abducted in the 9:30 a.m. raid at the ministry offices, calling the kidnapping a "national catastrophe."

Abed Theyab, the higher education minister, told parliament he had repeatedly petitioned for more university security from the ministries of Defense and Interior, who command the police, but had received none.