Baghdad gunmen kidnap Sunni woman MP, 7 bodyguards

BAGHDAD, July 1 (Reuters) Gunmen kidnapped a Sunni Arab lawmaker and seven of her bodyguards in Baghdad today, parliamentary sources said.

Taiseer Najah al-Mashhadani is a member of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest parliamentary bloc of the Sunni minority community.

Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a US air strike last month, had threatened members of the Sunni community against joining the US-backed political process.

Sunni insurgents have also threatened to derail the political process in Iraq.

Mashhadani is the first member of Iraq's parliament to be kidnapped since the December elections, which ushered the long-oppressed Shi'ite majority to power. Members of previous assemblies have been assassinated.

Mashhadani belongs to the Iraqi Islamic Party of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi. By law, at least a quarter of the 275 members of parliament are women though there are few women in leading positions in the main political blocs.

REUTERS SI KP1409