Ministry Sets up Crisis Unit for Kidnapped German Engineers | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 24.01.2006

Ministry Sets up Crisis Unit for Kidnapped German Engineers Germany Deutsche Welle 24.01.2006

Ministry Sets up Crisis Unit for Kidnapped German Engineers

Masked gunmen reportedly snatched the two engineers from an oil refinery in Baiji

Germany's foreign minister told reporters his office "must assume" that two German engineers were kidnapped Tuesday by armed men from a compound at an oil refinery in northern Iraq but he could not confirm reports.

The two men, working for a subsidiary of the oil refinery in Baiji, the largest in the country, were taken at gunpoint by men in military uniforms, a security official said, citing a local police report.

"At 8:00 am (0600 UTC), men wearing army uniforms aboard civilian cars entered the compound and, at gunpoint, took two German engineers working for an Arab firm making detergents," he added.

"We must assume the two Germans have been kidnapped," Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin, adding that they were workers from a company in the Leipzig area in eastern Germany.

Steinmeier said the foreign ministry had nevertheless set up a crisis cell similar to the one that handled the abduction in November of Susanne Osthoff, the German archeologist who spent more than three weeks as the hostage of unknown captors in Iraq.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff Thomas de Maiziere added to Steinmeier’s statement by saying at an event in Berlin that the missing men were "young," in addition to being from Leipzig.

Some German nationals are understood to work at the Baiji power station, located some 200 kilometers (140 miles) north of Baghdad, from where a Brazilian engineer was kidnapped a year ago.

Joao Jose Vasconcellos was kidnapped in January 2005 and authorities have heard nothing of his fate since.

Iraq's oil ministry also said it was looking into the report.

Latest in a surge of abductions

German Susanne Osthoff was released by her Iraqi kidnappers in December

More than 250 foreigners have been taken hostage in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. A number, including Westerners, have been killed.

The abduction of the Germans was just the latest seizure of foreigners in Iraq over the past few weeks.

US journalist Jill Carroll was taken captive Jan. 7 by militants who threatened to kill her, while two Kenyan telecommunications engineers were kidnapped last week.

There is still no news on the fate of four Western peace activists kidnapped in late November, while a Jordanian held hostage said in a videotape his captors set a new deadline to execute him.

It is unclear whether Germany paid a ransom for her release but many politicians noted the expense of the efforts to free her, including a round-the-clock crisis team operating at the foreign ministry.