ROME, Sept 7 (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was to return to Rome Tuesday for an emergency cabinet meeting following the reported kidnapping of two Italian women in Iraq, officials said.
Berlusconi, currently in northern Italy, was immediately informed of the abduction of the two, who were working for the Italian charity Un Ponte Per Baghdad (Bridge to Baghdad) in the Iraqi capital.
A top Berlusconi aide has called an emergency meeting of all ministers concerned to discuss the situation in Iraq following the kidnapping of the women, who have been identified as Simona Pari and Simona Torretta.
Witnesses said armed men abducted them and two Iraqi aid workers, who were employed by a non-governmental organization called Intersource, from their Baghdad offices on Tuesday.
Pari is from Rimini on the Adriatic Sea, while Torretta is from Rome, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
Italy, a strong supporter for the US-led war in Iraq, is still recovering from the execution of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni. The kidnapped reporter was murdered on August 26 after Rome refused to bow to demands from the militant group to pull its troops out of the country.