Petraeus involved in search for kidnapped Brits

Telegraph:

America's supreme commander in Iraq is personally involved in the search for five kidnapped Britons, he disclosed yesterday.

The missing men were seized from the Ministry of Finance in central Baghdad last Tuesday, after 20 armed insurgents marched into the building and led the five - a computer expert and his security detail - away at gunpoint.

General David Petraeus said that he watched live surveillance footage from an operation last week which attempted to recapture the Britons.

He revealed he had followed live aerial pictures as special forces, believed to include the SAS, raided a house in Baghdad where the captives were wrongly thought to be held.

Gen Petraeus added that the kidnappers were the "same cell" that raided a US army base in Karbala in January, abducting four US soldiers and a military interpreter. Their bodies were later found in an abandoned vehicle.

However, observers believe that the Britons are still alive, although their kidnappers have yet to make contact.

It appears that the latest kidnappings were carried out in revenge for the death of Azhar al-Dulaimi two weeks ago. The Iranian-trained militant was shot as he resisted arrest during a raid on a house in the rebellious Sadr City district of Baghdad.

...


The story also discusses attempts to drive a wedge between the Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda.

If the kidnappers are from the same gang that kidnapped the Americans and killed them, we have developed quite a bit of intelligence on them already. The aids on known hideouts has to make them nervous and keep them on the move. It is the movement that should eventually give them away.

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