Armed Men Kidnap Two Italian Women In Baghdad: Witnesses

BAGHDAD, Sept 7 (AFP) - Armed men kidnapped two Italian women from their Baghdad offices at gunpoint on Tuesday along with two fellow Iraqi aid workers, witnesses said.
The two women, identified as Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, were working for the Italian charity Un Ponte Per Baghdad (Bridge to Baghdad) while the Iraqis worked for a non-governmental organisation called Intersource.
Witnesses the kidnappers drove up in three cars to the offices of the two organisations at 5 pm (1300 GMT) and seized the four hostages.
They said a mortar bomb had hit the wall of a nearby house three days ago but residents said they believed it was targeting the NGO offices.
Dozens of foreigners have been held captive by insurgents seeking to force their governments or employers to leave the country. Some have been released but others brutally killed, their executions often posted on Internet sites.
An Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni was kidnapped by a militant group calling itself the Islamic Army of Iraq and executed on August 26.
He was killed after the government in Rome rejected an ultimatum to withdraw its troops from the US-led force in Iraq. The same group is holding two French reporters who have been missing for more than two weeks.