BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped a senior Iranian diplomat in Baghdad, Iraqi and Iranian officials said on Tuesday, and Tehran blamed the U.S. military and demanded his immediate release.
"We are dealing with this as a kidnapping," an Iraqi government official said of the incident, which threatens to further raise tensions between the United States and Iran.
The official said the diplomat, the second secretary at the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, was snatched in the central Karrada district on Sunday by 30 gunmen wearing the uniforms of a special Iraqi army unit that often works with U.S. military forces in Iraq.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini blamed U.S. forces for the kidnapping of Jalal Sharafi, saying it was carried out by a group attached to Iraq's Defense Ministry "which works under the supervision of American forces".
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL0675264420070206
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