Egypt’s envoy to Iraq abducted

Egypt’s envoy to Iraq has been kidnapped in Baghdad, possibly because he was to become the first full-ranking Arab ambassador to the US-backed Iraqi government, diplomats and police sources said on Sunday.

Ihab el-Sherif, the head of mission, was cornered by gunmen in cars while on a short trip to buy a newspaper near his home on Saturday evening and had not been heard from since, a diplomat said.

“The motives are believed to be political,” he said, noting that Iraq’s Foreign Minister said last week that Egypt would become the first Arab state to appoint a full-ranking ambassador to Baghdad since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Near Kirkuk, a car bomb blasted a police patrol at the town of Riyadh, killing two policemen. —Reuters