Britons abducted in Iraqi capital

Men in Iraqi police uniforms Tuesday abducted five British nationals from the Iraqi Finance Ministry, and two car bombs killed at least 33 people in Baghdad.

Dozens of police vehicles pulled up at the Finance Ministry’s administrative building and the assailants went inside, grabbed the five and took them away, said an Interior Ministry official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.

The British Embassy in Baghdad confirmed that five British citizens had been abducted at 11:50 a.m. from the Finance Ministry.

Spokeswoman Rosie Tapper said the embassy had been in contact with Iraqi authorities to determine what had happened and to secure the Britons’ release.

The Canada-based security firm Garda World said four of its British security guards and their client were kidnapped, wire services reported.

Palestine Street in east Baghdad, where the ministry is located, is considered to be under the sway of Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr’s Al Mahdi militia, and the use of police vehicles is a hallmark of abductions carried out by the group. The militia was suspected of carrying out the abduction in November of dozens of employees at Iraq’s Higher Education Ministry.

Since the beginning of the Baghdad security plan in February, the militia has refrained from major attacks in Baghdad.

The abductors apparently were heard shouting, “Where are the foreigners? Where are the foreigners?” according to Reuters news agency.

Although foreigners had been a favored target of armed groups before the security plan went into effect, the five Britons were the first known Westerners kidnapped in Baghdad since the troop buildup began here. Abductions of Iraqis in the capital are an almost daily occurrence. Many are committed by criminals, but Sunni Muslim insurgents and Shiite militias also are involved.

In other violence Tuesday, car bombs ripped through Shiite districts of Baghdad. One blew up near a Shiite mosque in the western Amil district, killing 15 people and wounding 60. At Baghdad’s Yarmouk Hospital, a man and his wife, both injured in the attack, were lying on stretchers in the emergency room. The man, whose right foot had been amputated, screamed at his wife, who had shrapnel wounds and was unconscious: “Fatima! Where are the kids, Fatima?”

In east Baghdad’s Tayaran square, 18 people were killed and 50 injured by a car bomb, police said. The bomb targeted a police patrol, a source said.

Meanwhile, 31 bodies were found dumped around Baghdad, bearing gunshot wounds and signs of torture, an Interior Ministry official said.

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ned.parker@latimes.com

Times staff writers Saif Hameed, Raheem Salman, Said Rifai and Suhail Ahmad contributed to this report.