Al-Qaida in Iraq says it has abducted two Moroccan Embassy employees

Iraqui branch of Al-Qaida claimed, it has abducted two Moroccan Embassy employees in Baghdad, the terror group claimed in an Internet statement.

"Your brothers in the military wing of al-Qaida in Iraq have detained the two Moroccans working at the Moroccan Embassy in Baghdad. Their interrogation is ongoing," said the statement, which was posted on an Islamist Web site Tuesday and signed by the group's spokesman Abu Maysara al-Iraqi.

The statement's authenticity could not be immediately verified. No demands were made in the statement.

On Monday, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry said embassy driver Abderrahim Boualam and employee Abdelkrim el Mouhafidi disappeared Thursday after driving back from Jordan where they had gone to pick up their pay checks.

Moroccan officials have been contacting Iraqi authorities to help release the employees, the North African country's Foreign Ministry has said.

Al-Qaida in Iraq has claimed responsibility for executing numerous hostages, including diplomats from Egypt and Algeria, reports the AP.

P.T.