Insurgents kidnapped the topofficial in Iraq’s rebellious Anbar province onTuesday and the deadline set by the captors of an Australian hostage passedwith no word on his fate.
Raja Nawaf,who only became governor of Anbar a few days ago, was abducted with fourbodyguards on the road from the town of Qaim,near the Syrian border, to the rebel stronghold of Ramadi, his brother, HamedNawaf, told Reuters.
Thekidnappers, supporters of the al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, aredemanding that Nawaf’s tribe release some of the militant leader’s followers itis holding, said Nawaf’s brother and a member of the Ramadi city council.
Although itappears to be a tit-for-tat turf war, the fighting showed some Iraqis areputting up resistance to Zarqawi, whose followers have kidnapped and beheadedforeigners and launched suicide bomb attacks that have killed hundreds.
U.S. forces said they too continued an offensive launchedthree days ago against rebels in Anbar, along the Euphrates Riverrunning from the Syrian border to Ramadi. They said they were meeting”significant resistance” from organized units.
Theabduction of the Anbar governor underscored the complex security challengefacing Iraq’snew government as it tries to tame lawless regions where Zarqawi’s ruthlessfollowers are taking on Iraqi security forces, American troops and tribes.
“Hamed’stribe has kidnapped some of Zarqawi’s people to force them to releasehim,” said a member of the Ramadi city council. “And Zarqawi’s peoplehave kidnapped some of Hamed’s tribes.”
Thathostage drama played out in Iraq’sguerrilla heartland as a deadline set by an insurgent group holding 63-year-oldAustralian engineer Douglas Wood expired.
In a videoshown on Al Jazeera television last week, Wood looked distraught as two maskedinsurgents pointed rifles at him. His head was shaved and he appeared to have ablack eye.
Theinsurgent group, the Shura Council of the Mujahideen in Iraq, demanded Australiawithdraw its troops from Iraq.
AustralianForeign Minister Alexander Downer said there had been no word about Wood’s fatesince the deadline passed.
“Wehaven’t heard anything … we just don’t know what to think and we arecontinuing to work on the case,” he said.
“Thesense we have is that the people who have taken Douglas Wood are morepolitically driven. So that makes it hard to know how to handle it.”
U.S. ALLIES UNDER PRESSURE
Japan, another U.S.ally in Iraq,was also grappling with a hostage crisis.
One of Iraq’s most feared insurgent groups, the Army ofAnsar al-Sunna, said in an Internet statement it had ambushed a foreignsecurity convoy near a U.S.base in western Iraqand captured a Japanese citizen. A picture of the man’s passport posted on theInternet gave his name as Akihiko Saito, aged 44.
The groupsaid video of the hostage, who works for a British security company, would beposted soon.
The Army ofAnsar al-Sunna said it had captured Saito after ambushing a convoy carrying 12Iraqis and five foreigners near the town of Hit in Anbar province. It said all those inthe convoy except Saito were killed.
Japanesemedia said Saito was a 20-year veteran of the French Foreign Legion and hadspent two years in Japan’sarmy.
“Hehas serious injuries and we will soon issue a video showing him,” hiscaptors said in their Internet statement.
Ansaral-Sunna has killed scores of hostages, including foreigners from countrieswith no connection to the Iraqwar. Last August, the group killed 12 Nepalese migrant workers, beheading oneand then riddling the others with bullets.
Both Australia and Japanhave troops in Iraqsupporting the U.S.military. A new batch of 450 Australian soldiers is due to arrive soon insouthern Iraq, taking thetotal of Australian troops in and around Iraq to about 1,400.
Japan has around 550 soldiers in Iraq, a largelysymbolic deployment as they are not allowed to take part in combat.
Australia and Japan have repeatedly said theywill not bow to demands of kidnappers. Besides Saito, six Japanese have beentaken hostage in Iraq.Five were released but Shosei Koda, a backpacker, was beheaded by his captorslast year.
In Baghdad, insurgents keptup the pressure on the new government with two more suicide car bomb attacks,killing eight people and wounding more than 20, police said.
Over thepast two weeks a surge of guerrilla attacks has killed more than 300 Iraqis andwounded hundreds more.
The past few weeks have seen a sharp escalation in guerrilla attacks. On Tuesday, asuicide bomber blew himself up near a U.S.military patrol in central Baghdad,killing eight Iraqis. A second suicide bomber targeted a base for the Baghdad river police on the banks of the Tigris,wounding three policemen.
Iraqiofficials say Zarqawi’s fighters and Saddam Husseinloyalists regrouped as the country’s new leaders bickered for three monthsfollowing Jan. 30 elections.
U.S. troops have also suffered heavylosses in the surge in attacks. Four U.S. Marines were killed in three attacksin western Iraq on Monday,bringing to 14 the number of American troops killed in action in Iraq since Saturday.
In thefighting along the Euphrates northwest of Ramadi, the Marines have said theyhave killed dozens of guerrillas in the biggest U.S. offensive since November’sstorming of the rebel bastion of Falluja, eastwards downriver toward Baghdad.