Fifteen Iraqi soldiers kidnapped west of Baghdad

RAMADI, Iraq, Jan 14 (AFP) - Fifteen Iraqi soldiers were kidnapped by gunmen off their bus after they finished work Friday at the Al-Asad US military base in the lawless western province of Al-Anbar.
The men, who ride daily out of the Al-Asad airbase, about 150 kilometres (115 miles) west of Baghdad, were ambushed with rocket-propelled grenades and Russian-made RPK machine guns, said police Colonel Fadel Abdul Dulaimi.
"The soldiers were wearing civilian clothes and hiding their weapons under the seats ... The gunmen forced them to surrender and took them away," Dulaimi said.
Iraq's fledgling new security forces has been targeted by insurgents, with attacks against them escalating since Iraq's transfer of sovereignty last June.
More than 1,300 police, soldiers and national guards have been killed in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The security forces in Al-Anbar are considered some of the weakest in the country, with rebels infiltrating the force and other members in sympathy with the resistance.

01/14/2005 19:19 GMT - AFP