Gunmen kidnap Iranian diplomat

GUNMEN in Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped a senior Iranian diplomat in Baghdad on Sunday, an Iraqi Government official said today.

“We are dealing with this as a kidnapping,” the official said.

The official said the diplomat, the second secretary at the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, was snatched in the central Karrada district by 30 gunmen wearing uniforms of a special Iraqi army unit.

The gunmen were wearing uniforms of the Iraqi 36th Commando Battalion, a special operations unit that often works with US military forces in Iraq, the official said.

US forces in Iraq have arrested a number of Iranians, including some diplomats, in the past month.

Washington accuses Tehran of providing support to militants fighting US forces in Iraq.

Tehran denies this.