Allawi’s family members kidnapped 11/10/2004 9:00:00 AM GMT
Three members of Iyad Allawi's family were kidnapped in Baghdad
A first cousin of the Iraqi PM, the cousin's wife and another member of Iyad Allawi’s family were kidnapped from their home in Baghdad on Tuesday morning, but kidnappers had made no demands, a spokesman for the Iraqi interim government, Georges Sada said on Wednesday.
"This is a close cousin -- Allawi's father and his father are brothers," Sada told reports.
The spokesman, however, gave no further details on the circumstances of the abduction, but a police source said that a short gun battle occurred at the home of Allawi’s relatives in a southwestern district of Baghdad before they were seized.
Allawi's office didn't comment on the kidnapping.
This puts more pressure on the Iraqi PM Iyad Allawi who gave the green light for U.S.-led assault in Fallujah to start on Monday, by U.S. and Iraqi troops in an attempt to curb the resistance based there.
Scores of Iraqis have been kidnapped by several armed groups in a spate of abductions over the past few, specially doctors and businessmen. Most of them were released after the payment of ransom.
Also, dozens of foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq, 35 of them were killed, several by beheading, and the rest were released unharmed
