Colonel in Iraq defense ministry kidnapped

KIRKUK, Iraq - An Iraqi colonel working at the defense ministry in Baghdad was kidnapped by gunmen Friday as he drove up to Kirkuk, an army commander in the northern oil city said.
Colonel Sirajeddin Abdullah, 52, who is a Turkmen, was kidnapped on a road between Kirkuk and Tuz, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, and his whereabouts were unknown, said General Anwar Hamad Amin, who commands the 31st Brigade of the Iraqi army based in Kirkuk.
Amin said Abdullah is a native of Kirkuk, which is an ethnically mixed city of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians that has seen frequent sectarian violence.