Dual nationality woman abducted in Iraq

A British-Iraqi woman working as the head of Care International in Iraq has been abducted in Baghdad.

Margaret Hassan, who has dual nationality and has been working for &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/society/2001/06/19/8126.html ' target=_blank>Care in Iraq for more than a decade, was seized by kidnappers at 04:30 GMT on Tuesday, a spokeswoman told Reuters.

Aljazeera later aired footage of Hassan after her capture, sitting in a room and looking anxious.

The station showed close-ups of Hassan's identification cards and said the video was accompanied by a claim of responsibility from an unnamed Iraqi group, reports Al-Jazeera.

The &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/accidents/2002/05/12/28509.html ' target=_blank>kidnapping occurred two weeks after militants in Iraq beheaded another Briton, engineer Kenneth Bigley.

Hostage-taking, suicide bombings and sabotage have kept Iraq in bloody chaos since last year's US-led invasion.

Four Iraqi National Guards were killed and up to 80 wounded in a mortar attack on their base at Tarmiya, about 25km north of Baghdad, a Defence Ministry statement said.

A &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/accidents/ 21/96/382/10473_chechen.html ' target=_blank>suicide car bomber attacked a US military convoy in the western town of Habbaniyah. There was no immediate word on casualties. The US military said it had no information on the incident but would investigate.

The Care International spokeswoman said Hassan, head of the charity's operations in Iraq, had deep roots in the country.

"We want to stress that she sees herself as an Iraqi. Iraq is her home. She has been living there for many years and would never consider coming back to Britain," said the spokeswoman, says Stuff News.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Ms Hassan is believed to be the eighth foreign woman to be abducted. All the others have been released unharmed.

Most international aid agencies withdrew their foreign staff after two Italian women aid workers were kidnapped in Baghdad last month and held for three weeks.