Gunmen kidnap Iranian diplomat in Baghdad - TV

Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped a senior Iranian diplomat in Baghdad on Sunday, Iraqi government official said on Tuesday.

Some 30 gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms in more than 10 military vehicles kidnapped the second secretary of the Iranian embassy in Baghdad's Karradah neighborhood on Sunday, said the official who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The gunmen were from a special Iraqi army unit that takes orders directly from the U.S. military, the official said, adding that the Iraqi government is dealing with the detention as a kidnapping,

But a U.S. military spokesman denied any U.S. troops or affiliated Iraqi troops were involved.

Earlier, a pan-Arab channel al-Arabiyah said the diplomat was not escorted by guards except three of his embassy employees while he was visiting a building under construction in which an Iranian bank is to be based.

The incident came as tensions between Iran and the United States were running high over the Iranian role in Iraq.

In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini Tuesday condemned the kidnapping of an Iranian diplomat in Iraq, saying it was operated under the supervision of U.S. forces there.

"Second secretary at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad Jalal Sharafi was kidnapped Sunday by gunmen linked to the Iraqi Defense Ministry," Hosseini was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

The spokesman also accused the U.S. forces in Iraq of " supervising the operation", saying, "Iran holds America responsible for the safety and life of the (abducted) diplomat."

"This aggressive action violates the international law and Iran strongly condemns it," he added.

Source: Xinhua