Iraq ministry hostages ‘released’

Iraq police say they have freed many of the people who were kidnapped from ministry of education offices in Baghdad.

The Iraqi government said that the hostages were freed by police and army units late on Tuesday night.

Iraq’s security services found the hostages when they raided several houses in Baghdad, an interior ministry spokesman told Iraqiya television in the early hours of Monday.

Intial reports had said that more than a hundred people were kidnapped after unknown men wearing police uniforms raided the ministry of education on Tuesday morning.

The Iraqi government later said that around 50 people had been seized in the mass-kidnapping.

Some eyewitnesses said that the hostages were driven in trucks towards the mainly Shia area of Sadr city.

It is unclear if all the hostages have been freed. Some reports have said that up to 20 people may still be missing.

Academics targeted

Academics are increasingly being singled out in sectarian violence, and thousands of professors and researchers have fled from the country.

A university dean and a Sunni geologist have been murdered in recent weeks. At least 155 education workers have been killed since the war began.

The security forces have been accused of taking part in, or turning a blind eye to several previous mass kidnappings which are believed to have been carried out by sectarian groups.

The Sunni minority have blamed many of the kidnappings on armed groups from the now dominant Shia parties, who control the interior ministry.

The higher education ministry is headed by a member of the main Sunni Arab political bloc.

Aljazeera + Agencies