UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- The top U.N. Iraq envoy is calling on Iraqis to "save the country from sliding further into the abyss of sectarianism."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative Ashraf Qazi addressed his plea Tuesday to political and religious leaders to do all in their power to halt the descent after Monday's bombings in Baghdad which killed or injured more than 200 innocent civilians.
"These deplorable outrages again underscore the urgent need for all Iraqis to reject violence and together choose the path of peace and reconciliation," said Qazi, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq in a statement.
Calling the attacks "particularly heinous and criminal," Qazi -- as he has done frequently in the past -- called on the Iraqi authorities to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators.
In another development, the U.N. refugee agency reported 17 Palestinian men sheltered in a Baghdad apartment building rented by the agency were taken away Tuesday by men dressed in Iraqi security force uniforms and driving security vehicles.
A relative of one of those taken and a local aid worker said they were later released, but the agency was unable to immediately confirm this.
Over the past year the agency has voiced increasing alarm for the Palestinians, who were forced to flee to Iraq and other Arab countries during the 1948 Middle East war and the creation of Israel.
Some received preferential treatment under ousted President Saddam Hussein and have become targets for attacks since his overthrow in 2003. Nearly 20,000 of them have already fled the country.
