American Among 5 New Hostages in Iraq

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

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 Fallouja with artillery in advance of an expected offensive. U.S. officials also announced that a Marine was killed in nearby Ramadi on Sunday.

The kidnappings occurred just before 6 p.m. in Baghdad’s Mansour District. According to Iraqi officials and witnesses, “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 shot to death, along with an office guard. A second American who was also at the office reportedly escaped during the melee.

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

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said four or five people were kidnapped. Iraqi police told Associated Press that six people were 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.

The wealthy neighborhood of large homes and well-groomed yards has been the scene of a growing number of kidnappings and terrorist bombings.

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

On Saturday, a car bomb killed seven people when it exploded outside the offices of the Arab satellite television network Al Arabiya. In a posting on a website, a militant group who took responsibility for the blast said it targeted the network because it was a “mouthpiece” for U.S. occupiers — though American officials have frequently criticized Al Arabiya’s coverage of events in Iraq.

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

To date, more than 160 foreigners have been taken hostage this year in Iraq. At least 33 of them have been killed.

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

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

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

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

While U.S. military leaders say they are getting ready to take the rebel-held city soon, in preparation for Iraqi national elections scheduled for January, a delegation appointed by 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.”

Meanwhile, a group calling itself the Ansar al Sunna Army claimed responsibility for the drive-by assassination of Baghdad’s deputy governor, Hatim Kamil, early this morning. Gunmen riddled Kamil’s car with bullets as he was driven to work from his southern Baghdad home.

“Your brave mujahedin brothers were able today to execute one of the infidel heads in the infidel Iraqi government,” the group wrote on a militant website. “They shot him blessed bullets by their machine guns This is the destiny of anybody who is a supporter to the Christians against the Muslims.”

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