Iraq Govt. Orders Arrest Of Police Officers In Connection With Massive Kidnapping...

The New York Times JOHN F. BURNS and MICHAEL LUO November 14, 2006 09:58 PM

Gunmen dressed in Iraqi police commando uniforms and driving vehicles with interior ministry markings rounded up dozens of people inside a government building in the heart of Baghdad on Tuesday and drove off with them in one of the most brazen mass kidnappings since a wave of sectarian abductions and killings became a feature of the war. Although some Iraqi officials said as many as 150 people had been taken, the American military command put the total at 55.

Witnesses said more than 50 gunmen arrived at the Ministry of Higher Education compound at mid-morning, forced their way past a handful of guards and stormed through a four-story building, herding office workers, visitors and even a delivery boy outside at rifle point. After women were separated, the men and possibly some women were loaded aboard a fleet of more than 30 pickup trucks and two larger trucks, then driven away through heavy traffic towards mainly Shiite neighborhoods on the city's eastern edge, officials and witnesses said

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