Iraq ministry hostages 'tortured'16 November 2006, 17:38 GMT
There is tight security around academic premises in Baghdad
Iraq's higher education minister has said he fears some ministry workers kidnapped by gunmen on Tuesday have been tortured and killed.
Abd Dhiab said up to 80 remained in captivity, while some of those who had since been released were badly beaten.
They were among scores of workers taken hostage when the gunmen raided an education ministry building in Baghdad.
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In an interview with the BBC, Mr Dhiab said he was "very much concerned" for the remaining captives' well-being.
He said there were "rumours and reports that some of them have been killed, even a number of those who have been freed were treated very badly, some of them had their legs and hands broken".
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In continuing bloodshed in Baghdad, police said gunmen opened fire on customers and workers in the bakery in the religiously-mixed neighbourhood of Zayouna.
Most bakeries in the capital are run by members of Iraq's Shia majority and are frequently targeted by Sunni militants.
"The gunmen stormed into the bakery and killed workers while they were baking. They had done nothing bad," the Associated Press news agency quoted an unnamed man outside the store as saying.
In other violence, at least three civilians were killed in two explosions elsewhere in the capital.
A bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded in the Amal neighbourhood, killing at least one person, while a blast on Palestine Street in the east of the city killed two others.
The US military also announced the deaths of four of its soldiers in Iraq.
Two were killed by a roadside bomb and another was killed in action in north-east Diyala province on Wednesday; a fourth died in an operation in Baghdad on Tuesday.
This makes me sick to my stomach. This is totally out of control.
And * is cavorting in Singapore, once again, blissfully unconcerned about the hell on earth he has wrought.
Impeachment is OUR tool, people. It isn't discretionary. It must be used to stop this madman, because if we do not, he will destroy us all.