'Westerners' abducted from Iraqi Finance Ministry

The details are still very sketchy at this point, but it appears that between 1 and 4 German lecturers were abducted from the Iraqi Finance Ministry today. As bad as that is, the details of the "how" are just as troubling,

They were snatched when a 40-strong convoy of police vehicles surrounded the information office on Palestine Street in the heart of Baghdad and a squad of men in police uniforms stormed the building, the Iraqi official said.

The four men were taken out at gunpoint and driven off by men wearing the recently-issued newly designed fatigues of the National Police, a heavily-armed paramilitary unit under the interior ministry, he added....

In 2006, Baghdad went through a rash of kidnappings by large numbers of men wearing military-style uniforms, particularly those of the national police. The units were then issued new uniforms to distinguish them from criminals.

This is a big operation using IP uniforms and vehicles in the heart of Baghdad. (I'm assuming it's 40 men, not 40 vehicles.)

No reports of fire by the Finance Ministry security, and apparently, no early call to the Iraqi Forces or Americans for help. (NYTimes version.)

The Interior Ministry official said that the abducted lecturers were German citizens, that there was no resistance and that the gunmen fled quickly with their captives.

These are early reports, so we'll have to wait and see.

(Iraqslogger has some equally uncertain reports from other sources.)

Update: From AP: "five Britons were kidnapped Tuesday from an Iraqi Finance Ministry office in Baghdad, according to Britain's Foreign Office."

But in the same article: "Britain's Foreign Office declined to confirm reports that British citizens were involved, but a government's crisis committee was to meet Tuesday in response to the reported incident, the Cabinet Office said."