Officials in Iraq say gunmen have abducted four Egyptian engineers working for a telephone company.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman says the four were seized early today (Sunday) near the Mansour district of Baghdad.
The men worked for (Iraqna,) a subsidiary of an Egyptian firm (Orascom Telecommunications,) which operates the mobile phone network in Baghdad and central Iraq. The abductors have yet to make any demands.
In another development, a second Islamist group has claimed responsibility for abducting Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, and threatened to kill her unless Rome withdraws its troops from the country.
A previously unknown group, calling itself the Organization for Jihad (in the Countries of Mesopotamia), posted the threat on the Internet. The authenticity of the statement has not been confirmed.
Another group, using a similar name -- the Organization of Islamic Jihad -- said it had kidnapped the Italian journalist Friday after she visited a Baghdad mosque.