BAGHDAD, Sept 28 (AFP) - The capture of six Egyptians has spurred paranoia among Baghdad's expatriate Arabs, scrambling to catch the first flight out of Iraq or join the few remaining westerners already barricaded in fortified hotels.
While some of the kidnappings are carried out by non-political ransom-seeking gangs which have prospered in the prevailing chaos, other abductions are claimed by insurgent groups hoping to deter countries from supporting the Iraqi government.
"I know many Arabs who have left Iraq," said an Egyptian caretaker working in a building where many of his fellow nationals lived, as well as Syrians and Lebanese.
"They left over the past few days because they had received threats or simply because they were scared of being abducted or assassinated," says 51-year-old Mamduh Abdelmajid al-Kilani.
Six Egyptians working for telecom giant Orascom and its Iraqi branch Iraqna were kidnapped last week. An Egyptian official said early Tuesday that one had been freed and the others might be released within 24 hours. No group has yet claimed responsibility for their abduction.
Kilani, who has been living in Iraq for 20 years and still isn't planning to join the exodus, says he knew many of the Arab expatriates who were threatened and left.
"They were merchants, businessmen or workers. Some were single, others lived with their families and many were even married to Iraqi women," he said.
Another Egyptian living in the same neighbourhood says he is still weighing the pros and cons of leaving the country.
"I've been living in Iraq for more than 30 years and don't want to make a hasty decision," says Serrir Abu Inji, a 52-year-old engineer who owns a shop selling electronic products.
He admits bluntly that "not all Arabs living in Iraq have noble intentions and money is the only motivation."
The footage of an Egyptian getting his head sawed off by a hooded militant was one of the executions that kicked off the macabre trend of posting grisly videos on Islamic websites.
The Tawhid wal Jihad organisation of top US foe Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi filmed the August 10 beheading of Mohammed Mutawalli, accused of spying for the US forces in Iraq.
Three Lebanese nationals were killed in a botched kidnapping in Beirut earlier this month. Lebanese construction worker Hussein Ali Alyan was found dead on June 12.
There are no accurate figures on the wave of kidnappings which has plagued the country since the war but at least two Jordanians, a Kuwaiti and a Somali are still missing.
Some 12 Jordanians, 10 Lebanese, four Egyptians and a Palestinian have also been kidnapped and released, according to an AFP count.
Among them was Mohammed Qutb, a 49-year-old Egyptian diplomat who said after being released that it emerged from his conversations with his captors that their goal was to prevent Cairo from offering any assistance to the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
The hawkish Iraqi premier is a former CIA-backed coup plotter and is perceived by many in Iraq as nothing less than a US stooge.
Within days of the transfer of sovereignty from the now-defunct coalition provisional authority to Allawi's government, Egypt had offered its services to help revamp the war-torn country's security apparatus.
Iraq's neighbour Jordan is still assisting in the training of Iraqi security forces and has sold Iraq surveillance planes, in a move tantamount to joining the coalition in the eyes of radical groups.
In July, an extremist organisation urged Jordan to immediately sever any ties it had with the US-led coalition and close its embassy in Baghdad or suffer painful reprisals.