LONDON, Oct 19 (AFP) - The British-born head of CARE International`s Iraq operations, Margaret Hassan, was kidnapped in Iraq early Tuesday, the aid organization said in London.
Hassan, who is married to an Iraqi and is a naturalized Iraqi citizen, has worked for CARE in Iraq since 1992 and has lived for more than 30 years in the country, a CARE spokeswoman told AFP.
The spokeswoman said a statement with further details would be issued later Tuesday.
CARE, a non-governmental organization with a presence in 72 countries, has been active in Iraq since 1991. Following the 2003 war it has focused efforts on providing emergency relief and medical aid, and restoring access to clean water.
It has 30 employees, all Iraqis, in its Baghdad office.
Hassan`s kidnapping follows a slew of hostage-taking and murders by several insurgent groups, including that of British contractor Kenneth Bigley, who was beheaded earlier in October by a hardline group led by Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.
Several other women aid workers have been kidnapped but later released.
Italians Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, 29-year-olds working for the Italy-based humanitarian organization A Bridge to Baghdad, were released on September 28 after three weeks in captivity.
Nahoko Takato, a 34-year-old aid worker from Japan, was also kidnapped earlier this year along with several Japanese men. Their abductors demanded that Tokyo withdraw its troops from the US-led forces but released the hostages after their demands were rejected.