Egyptian ambassador kidnapped
2005-07-03 10:34
Cairo - Egypt's first ambassador to post-Saddam Hussein Iraq has been kidnapped in Baghdad just weeks after arriving in the war-torn country, Egyptian diplomats said on Sunday.
Two diplomats, speaking in Cairo and Baghdad on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Ihab al-Sherif was kidnapped late on Saturday in the Iraqi capital.
Al-Sherif had arrived in Baghdad on June 1. In mid-June, the Egyptian government said it would upgrade relations with Iraq to full embassy status headed by an ambassador, but it was not immediately clear if al-Sherif currently held the full ambassador title.
The diplomats gave no immediate details on the kidnapping.
Egypt had withdrawn its ambassador in 1991 when it backed the US-led alliance against Saddam, after he invaded Kuwait.
- SAPA