Forty gunmen sealed and stormed the Iraqi finance ministry in Baghdad Tuesday before abducting five Britons - a finance expert and a guard detail

DEBKAfile Intelligence

May 30, 2007

They wore Iraqi police uniforms with official IDs. The British embassy is urgently looking into the abductions amid conflicting reports of the kidnappers’ identities, how many people are missing and the circumstances of the snatch. The expert is thought to have been advising the Iraqi finance ministry. The four guards were employed by the British Garda World Security company.

The British COBRA emergency panel, including experts on dealing with hostage episodes, convened in London Tuesday.


Elsewhere in Baghdad, 48 people were killed, scores injured in two bomb explosions.