Red Crescent halts Baghdad work after abduction

BAGHDAD, Dec 18 (Reuters) The Iraqi Red Crescent suspended operations in Baghdad after gunmen in police uniforms kidnapped about 30 people from one of its offices in the capital yesterday, an official of the humanitarian body said today.

''We have suspended our operations in Baghdad until all the hostages are released,'' Maazen Abdullah, secretary-general of the Iraqi Red Crescent, told Reuters. Gunmen have released 17 hostages, most of them employees, Abdullah said.

The Red Crescent, which works in Iraq with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has 40 offices in Baghdad.

Work will continue in its other offices, Abdullah said.

In the latest mass kidnapping that highlighted lawlessness in Baghdad, gunmen wearing police uniforms stormed the branch of the Red Crescent office in central Karrada, separated men from women and took hostages.

Iraq's capital is plagued by daily kidnappings, many of which are carried out by armed groups on either side of the communal conflict between majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs.

The Red Crescent has said it has felt pressure from militant groups, but Abdullah said he did not know why the organisation's employees were abducted. The two-storey Red Crescent office is identified by the Red Crescent emblem.

The ICRC has called for the immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages.

''Iraqi Red Crescent workers provide vital help for all Iraqis in need. They do so with devotion and with humanity. They must be respected and supported, not harmed,'' ICRC director of operations Pierre Kraehenbuehl said in a statement.

The Iraqi Red Crescent, the only Iraqi aid agency working in Iraq's 18 provinces, has 1,000 staff and 200,000 volunteers.

REUTERS LL HT1942