One Russian diplomat killed, 4 kidnapped in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Gunmen killed one Russian diplomat and kidnapped four others in Baghdad on Saturday, Interior Ministry sources said.

Gunmen in three cars blocked a road where they were travelling in Baghdad's upscale Mansour district and opened fire on their vehicle, killing one and then abducting four others, said the sources.

Press reports out of Moscow identified the slain man as a Russian diplomat, though the Russian embassy in Baghdad had no immediate comment.

Gunmen used two vehicles, including a minibus, to block off the street in the upscale west Baghdad neighbourhood of Mansour where the Russians were driving, an Iraqi interior ministry official said.

The gunmen then opened fire on them, fatally wounding one before taking the rest. The interior ministry has alerted police to be on the lookout for a car and minibus of Korean manufacture carrying four foreigners.

"We confirm that one diplomat died and four were kidnapped. But we are not giving further comment," an official from the consular section of Moscow's embassy to Baghdad was quoted by Russia's Interfax news agency as saying.

ITAR-TASS also reported that the slain Russian national was a diplomat. "We are checking this information," an official from Russia's foreign ministry in Moscow said.