Four Iranians kidnapped in Baghdad

Dubai: An Iraqi insurgent group has kidnapped four Iranians from the north of Baghdad on Sunday, Al Arabiya satellite television reported on Monday.

A video issued by the little-known Saad bin Abi Waqqas Brigades showed four men holding up their identity papers as they sat in front of the group's black banner.

Al Arabiya quoted the group as saying the four they were on a mission from the seminary in the city of Qom, a main Shi'ite Muslim clerical centre in Iran.

The group said it seized the four near the town of Balad, north of Baghdad, which is the site of a Shi'ite shrine.

Late in November, gunmen abducted six Iranian pilgrims and an Iraqi woman in the same area but released them a day later.

More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government.

Some were seized by militants seeking ransom, others by insurgents trying to pressure their countries to stop supporting the Baghdad government.

Many foreign hostages have been released, but about 50 have been killed.