The Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa urged Tuesday the prompt release of the Egyptian envoy in Baghdad, Ihab el-Sharif, who was kidnapped in Iraq on Saturday, the Egyptian official MENA news agency reported.

Moussa said in a press statement that the Arab diplomatic presence in Baghdad was meant to boost Arab solidarity with the entire Iraqi people.

He warned that such hostile acts against Arab diplomats in Iraq served only the goals of those who would like to see Iraq's relations with Arab countries severed.

Moussa stressed that relations between Iraq and its sisterly Arab countries will never be severed.

Al-Sharif, who was named as the first ambassador to post-war Iraq on June 1, was kidnapped by a group of gunmen at about 7:00 p. m. (1500 GMT) on Saturday near the Egyptian consulate in al-Rabie Street in western Baghdad.

There is still no word from kidnappers about the whereabout of the Egyptian diplomat.

Source: Xinhua