BAGHDAD, March 8 (UPI) -- Armed men dressed as Iraqi police Wednesday raided a Baghdad security firm and took 50 employees hostage, a report said.
Among those captured in Baghdad's Zayouna district was the head of the private al-Rawafed security company, the BBC reported.
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The raid escalated sectarian tensions since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Samarra, Iraq, shrine, sparking violence that has killed more than 400 people.
"There is a concerted effort to provoke civil war," U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said Tuesday.
The raid also added to tensions as Iraq's Parliament prepared for a Sunday meeting, its first since elections last December.
