January 23, 2007

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Palestinian sources have said that 27 Palestinian refugees were kidnapped in several areas of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad on Tuesday morning.

The sources added that the kidnappers were masked and wearing Iraqi ministry of interior uniforms. They arrived in 15 official cars and a bus in order to transport the abducted Palestinians. The forces broke into one of the buildings where the Palestinians were living and broke the doors. Reports also say that they attacked some of the women in their homes and dragged them along the ground through the streets. 27 men, including old people, were reportedly abducted in this latest aggression on the remaining members of the Palestinian community in Baghdad.

The sources confirmed that the same building was attacked last night by some armed men who shot at the building and caused damages to it. This building, according to the sources, was leased by the United Nations for use by the Palestinians following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in the war on Iraq in 2003.