Oil Weapon Update: “Gunmen kidnap senior Iraq oil official in Baghdad,” from Reuters, with thanks to JE:
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Gunmen kidnapped a senior official of
Iraq’s oil ministry after he left work in Baghdad on Thursday, police and ministry sources said on Friday, highlighting the lawlessness still afflicting the vital sector.The incident happened the same day U.S. troops killed Iraq’s al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose demise the Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said would help improve the country’s oil production, particularly in the north.
The sources said Muthana al-Badri, Director General of Iraq’s State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP), was on his way home in the Sunni district of Adhamiya when gunmen in four cars stopped his car and abducted him but set his driver free.
They said the kidnappers have not contacted the ministry or Badri’s family.