Iraqi kidnap: Still 25 hostages missing and all universities closed

WATCH VIDEO

Source: CCTV.com | 11-15-2006 13:49

Over in Iraq state television is now reporting that most of the dozens of hostages seized at a Higher Education Ministry building on Tuesday have been freed by security forces in Baghdad.

The TV station quoted an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman as saying operations were continuing in the early hours of Wednesday to free the remaining hostages. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Higher Education Ministry has closed all universities to tighten security.

There was no immediate word on whether any hostages were injured in the operations. Meanwhile, another TV station controlled by a major Shi'ite political group says 25 hostages are still missing.

Officials initially said 100 or more had been seized. But a government spokesman later said 20 had been released within hours of the abduction. And the kidnappers were still holding around 50 hostages.

The kidnapping raid occurred at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. There were signs that a struggle ensued there.

One of the relatives of the kidnapped students, who witnessed the kidnapping, described what happened.

Waleed, eyewitness said, “It was breakfast time. The employees were having their breakfast when the gunmen stormed the building. They did not come from the doors but from walls. The doors are for whom then? My niece and sister have been kidnapped.”