4 Iraqis killed, family kidnapped
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four Iraqis were killed Saturday in separate incidents and the wife and three children of an Iraqi National Guard officer were kidnapped.
In the first attack, gunmen opened fire in Baquba on a car carrying an Iraqi National Guard general, killing him and his driver, national guard officials said.
Later on Saturday, two men working for an American security firm were killed when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in the southern city of Basra, British military sources said.
A British military official said the vehicle was hit near the Basra Palace compound, which houses a U.S. Embassy civilian vehicle and some British military troops.
British forces are based in the southeastern region of the country.
The U.S. Embassy office, opened in Basra since the transfer of sovereignty, has roughly 350 workers.
The office is referred to as an embassy regional office and not a consulate because the office has no official consular status at this time.
In Baquba, 56 kilometers (35 miles) north of Baghdad, Gen. Nashe Jawad Hassan was on his way to work Saturday when four attackers opened fire on his Mercedes with small arms fire, Col. Tha'ir Hadi said.
Hassan's son, 1st Lt. Ammar Nashe, and Col. Ali Abbass were critically injured in the drive-by shooting, according to Col. Sabri Salar.
Insurgents also kidnapped the wife and three children of an Iraqi National Guard officer in a town on the outskirts of Baquba, a Guard official said on Saturday.
Col. Abdulla Alshumari of the Iraqi National Guard said the family members of Col. Kahlis Hussein were abducted from their house, which was set on fire by a group of insurgents, who drove away in four Opels.
The incident took place at 1 p.m. in Hibhib.
"As of now, we heard nothing from the kidnappers with the regards to the conditions of their release," Col. Alshumari said.
The abductions came the day after five Iraqi police officers were kidnapped -- four in Najaf, and one in Baghdad.
Police think the Baghdad kidnapping and the recent abduction of two female Italian aid workers might have been conducted by the same people. The kidnappers in both incidents wore Iraqi national guard uniforms and used similar vehicles, they said.
The hostage-takers -- a previously unknown group calling itself the Contributing Forces for the Annihilation of Agents and Spies -- claimed the officers were chasing the "mujahedeen and harassing Muqtada al-Sadr."
The Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera reported the four police officers' kidnappings in Najaf.
Video showed the four men surrounded by armed, masked men. One of them was held by the hair, forcefully raising his head.
Other developments:
A U.S. Army military intelligence soldier was sentenced Saturday after pleading guilty to charges connected to his role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. Army Spec. Armin Cruz was the first military intelligence soldier charged in the case. He was sentenced to eight months confinement, demoted in rank and given a bad conduct discharge. (Full story)Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawar is visiting Italy, the latest stop in his European trip, to meet with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and other Italian officials. The Italian government provides one of the larger contingents in the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq: about 2,700 troops.About 3,000 to 4,000 supporters of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr marched Friday in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Khadmiye against what they called acts of aggression by occupation forces in Sadr City. In Najaf, about 500 protesters led an anti-al-Sadr demonstration and attempted to storm al-Sadr's office. They were stopped by Iraqi forces and were dispersed. (Full story)A car bomb exploded late Friday outside the Sabbatarian Adventist Church in central Baghdad, causing no casualties but shattering windows, according to an Interior Ministry spokesman. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Iraqi government was determined to hold elections for a transitional national assembly in January, as scheduled, but there was "no question" that terrorists will try to thwart the balloting. "They're going to be looking for weak spots. They're going to be going after people who are running for office -- Iraqi people who are engaged in that process," he said. "Do I think [the voting] will go forward? Yes I do." CNN Producers Kevin Flower, Arwa Damon and Mike Mount contributed to this report.
