Wave of abductions plagues Iraq; troops killed

updated 10:56 a.m. ET Nov. 29, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Photos broadcast Tuesday showed a blindfolded German woman being led away by armed captors in the latest kidnapping of a Westerner in Iraq. Six Iranian pilgrims, meanwhile, were abducted by gunmen north of Baghdad.

Separately, the aid group Christian Peacemaker Teams confirmed that four people from the group had been taken hostage Saturday and that Norman Kember, a 74-year-old Briton, was among them. The U.S. Embassy has confirmed an American is missing in Iraq — presumably one of the aid workers.

Also Tuesday, two U.S. soldiers assigned to Task Force Baghdad were killed when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb north of the capital, the U.S. command said. In addition, a suicide car bomber killed eight Iraqi soldiers and wounded five others when he drove into an army patrol Tuesday in Tarmiyah, 30 miles north of Baghdad, police Lt. Ali Hussein said.

Iraq was rocked by a wave of foreigner kidnappings and beheadings in 2004 and early 2005, but they have dropped off in recent months as many Western groups have left and security precautions for those who remain have tightened. Insurgents, including the al-Qaida in Iraq group, seized more than 225 people, killing at least 38 — including three Americans.

The pictures of Susanne Osthoff were taken from a video in which her captors demanded that Germany stop any dealings with Iraq’s government, according to Germany’s ARD television. Germany has ruled out sending troops to Iraq and opposed the U.S.-led war.

Osthoff and her driver have been missing since Friday and “according to current information, we have to assume it is a kidnapping,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin.

Broken family ties
Osthoff’s mother, Ingrid Hala, told Germany N24 news station that her daughter is an archaeologist working for a German aid organization that has distributed medicine and medical supplies since before the 2003 U.S. invasion. ARD said she speaks fluent Arabic.

“One can only hope and keep their fingers crossed and remain optimistic,” Hala said.

Hala said she had not heard from her daughter for about five years, and her uncle, Peter Osthoff, said his niece had broken almost all ties with her family, including a daughter who will be 12 in December.

“She has almost no contact with any relatives,” he told The Associated Press.

Osthoff, who converted to Islam, lived in Yemen for several years before she took part in excavations in Iraq in 1984. Her husband is an Iraqi citizen and the two, who are now separated, have a daughter, NBC News reported.

Christian Peacemaker Teams said it has had representatives in Iraq since October 2002, working with U.S. and Iraqi detainees and training others in nonviolent intervention and human rights documentation. Kember and another person were part of a visiting delegation, while two of the group’s staff based in Iraq also were taken, the statement said.

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