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Iraq rebels kidnap Raja Nawaf, governor of the western province of Anbar
The governor of one of Iraq's most dangerous provinces has been kidnapped by insurgents calling for an end to US operations close to the Syrian border.
Raja Nawaf, governor of the western province of Anbar, was seized at a roadblock between the town of Qaim and the provincial capital Ramadi.
The kidnappers later demanded that US troops pull out of Qaim, where the US says it has killed 100 insurgents.
Earlier, two car bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing seven and injuring 47.
The dead were thought to be civilians, killed by the first blast. Six policemen were injured in the second blast, at an Iraqi river police station.
Tuesday's first car bombing hit Saadoun Street, a busy part of Baghdad's business district hit by a similar explosion on Saturday that killed 17 people.
Bandit country
In a telephone call to Mr Nawaf's brother, a group claiming to have kidnapped the Anbar governor - who only recently took up his post - said they would hold him captive until US troops pulled back from Qaim.
US military officials say they have killed up to 100 insurgents since it launched Operation Matador in Qaim, 320km (200 miles) west of Baghdad, on Saturday night.
The operation, the largest US offensive in months, was prompted by a spate of bomb attacks across Iraq in recent weeks, and the intensity of the fighting has prompted many civilians to flee their homes.
Marines crossed the Euphrates river on Monday and pushed westwards into the Jazirah desert, a largely unpatrolled area near the Syrian border.
US commanders believe the lawless area is a haven for followers of insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Since then they have been fighting house-to-house and say they have encountered stiff resistance from insurgent snipers nested in desert outposts and a string of western towns.
There was no official confirmation of US casualties on Tuesday, although at least three Marines were reported to have died on Monday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4534277.stm
Fighters have kidnapped the governor of Iraq's western Anbar province and told his family he will be released when US forces withdraw from al-Qaim, the site of a major new offensive against followers of Iraq's most wanted fighter, relatives say.
Governor Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi was seized as he drove from al-Qaim to the provincial capital of Ramadi on Tuesday morning, his brother, Hammad, told The Associated Press.
The kidnappers later telephoned the family and said they were holding the governor until US forces pull out of the Syrian border town, about 320km west of Baghdad, Hammad Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi said.
"The kidnappers have demanded that American forces leave al-Qaim in order to release him," he said.
US forces are conducting one of their largest offensives in six months in the remote desert region, believed to be a haven for followers of Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaida in the Land of Two Rivers, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Al-Mahalawi only recently became governor after tribal leaders forced out his predecessor Fasal Raikan al-Gut al-Namrawi, who narrowly escaped a roadside bombing in February.
Al-Mahalawi, who is originally from al-Qaim, served as mayor of the town under Saddam Hussein.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/79701CAF-AA33-4EB5-8494-978D8CD63A10.htm
The kidnappers later demanded that US troops pull out of Qaim, where the US says it has killed 100 insurgents.
Earlier, two car bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing seven and injuring 47.
The dead were thought to be civilians, killed by the first blast. Six policemen were injured in the second blast, at an Iraqi river police station.
Tuesday's first car bombing hit Saadoun Street, a busy part of Baghdad's business district hit by a similar explosion on Saturday that killed 17 people.
Bandit country
In a telephone call to Mr Nawaf's brother, a group claiming to have kidnapped the Anbar governor - who only recently took up his post - said they would hold him captive until US troops pulled back from Qaim.
US military officials say they have killed up to 100 insurgents since it launched Operation Matador in Qaim, 320km (200 miles) west of Baghdad, on Saturday night.
The operation, the largest US offensive in months, was prompted by a spate of bomb attacks across Iraq in recent weeks, and the intensity of the fighting has prompted many civilians to flee their homes.
Marines crossed the Euphrates river on Monday and pushed westwards into the Jazirah desert, a largely unpatrolled area near the Syrian border.
US commanders believe the lawless area is a haven for followers of insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Since then they have been fighting house-to-house and say they have encountered stiff resistance from insurgent snipers nested in desert outposts and a string of western towns.
There was no official confirmation of US casualties on Tuesday, although at least three Marines were reported to have died on Monday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4534277.stm
Fighters have kidnapped the governor of Iraq's western Anbar province and told his family he will be released when US forces withdraw from al-Qaim, the site of a major new offensive against followers of Iraq's most wanted fighter, relatives say.
Governor Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi was seized as he drove from al-Qaim to the provincial capital of Ramadi on Tuesday morning, his brother, Hammad, told The Associated Press.
The kidnappers later telephoned the family and said they were holding the governor until US forces pull out of the Syrian border town, about 320km west of Baghdad, Hammad Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi said.
"The kidnappers have demanded that American forces leave al-Qaim in order to release him," he said.
US forces are conducting one of their largest offensives in six months in the remote desert region, believed to be a haven for followers of Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaida in the Land of Two Rivers, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Al-Mahalawi only recently became governor after tribal leaders forced out his predecessor Fasal Raikan al-Gut al-Namrawi, who narrowly escaped a roadside bombing in February.
Al-Mahalawi, who is originally from al-Qaim, served as mayor of the town under Saddam Hussein.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/79701CAF-AA33-4EB5-8494-978D8CD63A10.htm
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Raja Nawaf had been abducted with four bodyguards on the road from the town of Qaim near the Syrian border to the rebel stronghold of Ramadi by followers of al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, after a dispute with the governor's tribe, relatives had said.
Anbar province is the heartland of Iraq's insurgency.