Bad Move.
Saturday 03 June 2006
One Russian diplomat has been killed and four kidnapped in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, Iraqi interior ministry officials say.
The gunmen used three cars to block a road then opened fire on the Russian diplomatic vehicle, the officials say.
The attack took place in Mansour district in the west of the city, close to the Russian embassy.
An embassy official confirmed the death and abductions to Russia's Interfax agency but made no further comment.
Russia's foreign ministry in Moscow would only say it was still checking the information.
Mansour houses a number of embassies and has seen attacks on other diplomats.
A United Arab Emirates diplomat was seized and held for two weeks before being freed last month.
Last year, two Algerian, one Egyptian and two Moroccan embassy workers were abducted and killed.
Severed Heads
The latest abductions came on another day of violence across the country.
Iraqi police said they had found eight severed heads on a roadside near the town of Baquba, 60km (35 miles) north-east of Baghdad.
The identities have not been confirmed but a note at the scene said at least one had been killed in retaliation for the murder of four Shia doctors.
Police told the Reuters news agency one of the men was identified as the Sunni preacher of a mosque in Tarmiya, 30km north of Baghdad.
And a police lieutenant-colonel, Adil Zihari, told Associated Press five of the men worked at a hospital in Baghdad.
Separately, seven policemen were killed and 10 other people wounded in an attack on a checkpoint in Baquba.
Insurgents raided the al-Razi checkpoint with rocket-propelled and hand grenades and small arms fire.
In other violence, at least four bodies were found across Baghdad, all with signs of torture.
The violence comes as the new government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki prepares to name the new interior and defence ministers - a move the administration hopes will help ease unrest.
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