Iraqi report on hostage release now called false

Captors wore police uniforms
A female professor who was visiting the ministry at the time of the attacks said the gunmen, some of them masked, wore blue camouflage uniforms of the type worn by police commandos. Illegal groups, including Shiite militias who have widely infiltrated the police force, are known to wear stolen or fake police and army uniforms.

The abductions follow a series of attacks on Iraqi academics that has prompted thousands of professors and researchers to flee to neighboring countries.

Recent weeks have seen a university dean and prominent Sunni geologist murdered, bringing the death toll among educators to at least 155 since the war began. The academics apparently were singled out for their relatively high public stature, vulnerability and views on controversial issues in a climate of deepening Islamic fundamentalism.

After Tuesday’s attack, Theyab ordered university classes suspended, complaining that the government had ignored his calls for greater security. He later rescinded the order when the Interior and Defense ministries promised increased patrols.

Al-Maliki says kidnap ‘not terrorism’
In his sole public comments on the kidnapping, al-Maliki said the kidnapping was the result of rivalries among armed groups sponsored by different political factions.

"What is happening is not terrorism, but the result of disagreements and conflict between militias belonging to this side or that," al-Maliki said in televised remarks during a meeting with President Jalal Talabani.

Ali al-Adib, a Shiite lawmaker, demanded U.S. troops be held responsible for allowing the kidnappings to occur.

"There is a political goal behind this grave action," al-Adib said.

A spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq said American troops were ready to help in the hunt for the kidnappers.

"If the reports are true, than this is a terrible crime and we will support all efforts by the Iraqi government to bring these criminals to justice," Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said.

Other events Tuesday
The abductions came just hours after a U.S. assault on the northwest Baghdad Shiite district of Shula that drew strong condemnation from al-Adib and other Shiite members of parliament. Shula and Sadr City are strongholds of radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, sponsor of one of Iraq's most powerful and feared militias, the Mahdi Army.

They also follow a meeting in Baghdad at which Gen. John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, confronted al-Maliki over how Iraqi forces would halt the raging violence.

In other violence Tuesday:

• Police and medical workers said at least 31 Iraqis were killed in overnight clashes in the western city of Ramadi, where U.S. ground troops and warplanes have conducted a series of operations over recent days targeting Sunni insurgents. U.S. forces had no immediate comment.
• Assailants also killed seven passengers and wounded two others aboard a minivan ambushed Tuesday near Mandali along the Iranian border, 60 miles east of Baghdad, the Diyala provincial police spokesman's office said.
• Also in Diyala, two policemen were killed and seven wounded when their patrol was attacked at about 8:30 a.m. in a village just outside Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, the provincial police spokesman said.
• Three insurgents were blown apart while attempting to plant a roadside bomb Monday night in a southern suburb of Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, police Brig. Abdul-Karim Ahmed Khalaf said.
• The U.S. military, meanwhile, said an air strike killed three insurgents suspected of being part of a car bomb making ring in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad.

MORE FROM MIDEAST & N. AFRICA

Mideast & N. Africa Section Front

Iran cracks down on online opposition Brothers who fled Yemen can stay in U.S. Federal case threatens mosques Palestinians urge cancellation of election Diplomats question role of Iran nuke plant US: Iraq needs to do more to help refugees return Mideast & N. Africa Section Front   Add Mideast & N. Africa headlines to your news reader: