BAGHDAD, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Gunmen kidnapped a female Italian journalist in Baghdad Friday after intercepting the car she was traveling in with her Iraqi translator.
The abduction took place near Baghdad University in the neighborhood of Jadiriya where Guiliana Sgrena of the Italian daily Manifesto was conducting interviews with Muslim fundamentalists in a mosque, the Italian News Agency, ANSA, said.
The Iraqi translator said a group of armed men intercepted the car by firing shots into the air then dragged Guiliana from the vehicle and whisked her into their car and sped away.
Interior Minister Guiseppe Pisanu was quoted by ANSA as saying Sgrena "was probably kidnapped by a Sunnite gang."
"The government is engaged to do the utmost in order to ensure her liberation," Pisanu added.
Two female Italian humanitarian workers and a male journalist were kidnapped in Iraq last year. The women were released after two weeks, but the journalist was killed by his captors.
