Iraqi gunmen abduct 16 employees of govt institute

BAGHDAD, June 25 (Reuters) Gunmen today abducted 16 employees of a government institute north of Baghdad in the second mass kidnapping in the area in a week, police said.

Police said the victims, all employees of the state-run Technology Research Insitute in Taji, had been transporting furniture from Baghdad when their convoy was stopped by gunmen.

The area, home to a major U.S. air base just north of the capital, has seen substantial activity by Sunni Arab militants fighting to oust the Shi'ite, Islamist-led government and end the US occupation.

Large-scale abductions of Iraqi soldiers, police and civilians have been a feature of sectarian insurgent violence in the past couple of years. Several have resulted in massacres, where those abducted have later been gunned down by the road.

On Wednesday, dozens of workers at a state-run industrial complex in Taji were abducted as they were being ferried home in a fleet of buses just north of Baghdad.

Police and the industry minister have offered different figures for the number seized, with the police saying 80 or more were taken and the minister putting the number at about 60. Both agree that about half the group, all Sunnis, were later released by the gunmen, suggesting a sectarian motive.

Several bodies have since been found dumped in the area, believed to be those of some of the factory workers.

REUTERS SY RAI1912