PARIS, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- A French engineer was kidnapped in Iraq Monday, French media reported.
According to a separate BBC report, witnesses claimed seven gunmen abducted the man outside his home in Baghdad's western district of Mansour.
The initial report was not immediately confirmed by the French Foreign Ministry in Paris.
A ministry spokesman contacted by United Press International said the country's embassy in Baghdad was still seeking verification.
He predicted there could be an official announcement shortly.
If confirmed, it would bring to at least four the number of French taken hostage in Iraq.
Three French reporters taken hostage in Iraq were released in December and June.
In at least two of the cases, there were widespread reports that Paris may have paid some form of ransom -- allegations the French government has vigorously denied.
France leads international opposition against the war in Iraq, and it has participated only marginally in reconstruction efforts there.
But that, along with French warnings for its nationals to stay out Iraq, has not discouraged engineers and others to accept lucrative if risky jobs in the country.
"These positions are really well paid, and you'll always find people able to take the risk," said Jean Francois Daguzin, a researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research, in Paris.
If confirmed, the kidnapping underscores a renewed spate of hostage-taking in Iraq, after a lull in recent months.
A German archeologist and four Western aid workers were reported kidnapped last month.
