A Horde of Gunmen Abducts an American, Others in Baghdad

Gunmen abducted an American and at least three other people Monday after shooting their way into a business office in an upscale neighborhood here and overwhelming guards, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

The kidnappings, the latest in a series of increasingly bold and well-orchestrated abductions in Iraq, came as American forces hammered suspected militant strongholds in the city of Fallouja with artillery in advance of an expected offensive. U.S. officials also announced that a Marine was killed in nearby Ramadi on Sunday.

This morning, a car bomb exploded outside the main Education Ministry office in Baghdad, causing an unknown number of casualties.

The kidnappings occurred just before 6 p.m. in Baghdad’s Mansour district. Iraqi officials and witnesses said “quite a number” of heavily armed men raided the offices of a Saudi company and began trading fire with guards.

At least one of the kidnappers was killed, along with an office guard. A second American who was at the office reportedly escaped during the melee.

The names of those abducted and the Saudi company were not immediately available.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said four or five people had been kidnapped. Iraqi police told Associated Press that six people had been taken: the American, a Nepalese and four Iraqi guards.

Police and a witness told the news service that at least 20 gunmen, some dressed in traditional Arab robes, stormed the offices during iftar, the evening meal in which Muslims break their daylight fast during the month of Ramadan.

Bombings and kidnappings have become increasingly frequent in the wealthy neighborhood of large homes and well-groomed yards.

In September, militants seized two Americans and a Briton from their offices in the area. All three were later beheaded. Followers of Abu Musab Zarqawi claimed responsibility for their deaths.

On Saturday, a car bomb killed seven people when it exploded outside the Mansour offices of the satellite television channel Al Arabiya. In an Internet posting, a militant group took responsibility for the blast and said it targeted the channel because it was a “mouthpiece” for U.S. occupiers -- though American officials have often criticized Al Arabiya’s coverage of events in Iraq.

On Monday, Robert J. Callahan, the U.S. Embassy spokesman, said the taking of so many hostages Monday marked a troubling precedent. “I don’t recall four or five being kidnapped at once before,” Callahan said.

More than 160 foreigners have been taken hostage this year in Iraq. At least 34 of them have been killed.

In western Iraq, U.S. military officials said the Marine slain Sunday was killed by a bomb detonated in the center of Ramadi. The blast also wounded four Marines, the officials said, offering no further details.

U.S. forces have been clashing with insurgents in Ramadi and Fallouja for weeks. On Monday, hospital officials reported that one woman and her two children died in the fighting in Ramadi.

Reuters and other news agencies also reported that an Iraqi photographer, Diaa Najm, was shot in the head and killed as he filmed the fighting near his Ramadi home.

In Fallouja, U.S. forces bombed targets in the eastern part of the city for more than half an hour. The bombings were aimed at destroying the suspected meeting places and weapons storage sites of militants.

As U.S. military leaders say they are preparing to take the rebel-controlled city soon -- in advance of Iraqi national elections scheduled for January -- a delegation appointed by interim Iraqi Prime Minster Iyad Allawi met with Fallouja representatives for an hour Monday to discuss a peace agreement.

After the meeting, a negotiator for the city said that peace did not appear to be an option.

“What Fallouja got instead of a branch of olives is air raids, tanks and more clashes,” said Hatim Madab, the negotiator. “The government has presented us with a branch of thorns.”

Today’s bombing in Baghdad was next door to a primary school, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injury there.

Meanwhile, a group calling itself the Ansar al Sunna Army claimed responsibility in an Internet posting for the drive-by assassination early Monday of Baghdad’s deputy governor, Hatim Kamil.

Times staff writer Alissa J. Rubin and special correspondent Raheem Salman in Baghdad and a special correspondent in Fallouja contributed to this report.