BAGHDAD - Twenty-two Iraqi soldiers were kidnapped as they left their base in the western rebel hotbed province of Al-Anbar, an Iraqi military source said Wednesday.
The troops, all from the Shiite south of the country, were captured by armed men in Rawa, around 250 kilometres (160 miles) west of Baghdad on Tuesday, he said, adding that nothing had been heard of them since.
The defence and interior ministries could not confirm the report.
Rawa is at the heart of the vast province where US and Iraqi forces have conducted several broad insurgent sweeps in recent months and includes the former rebel bastion of Fallujah.
Washington and Baghdad maintain that there is a steady flow of foreign fighters crossing into Al-Anbar from Syria to join the insurgency.
06/08/2005 15:54 GMT