Iraq: Two killed as two Moroccans abducted

Four gunmen on Wednesday killed Nabil Yasir al Musawi, the top accountant in the antiquities and heritage section of Iraq's Tourism Ministry. In the incident, which took place in Baghdad, the attackers repeatedly fired into al Musawi's car, killing also his his driver, police said, according to the AP.

Meanwhile, an Internet statement claimed that Al-Qaeda in Iraq had abducted two Moroccan Embassy employees in Baghdad. "Your brothers in the military wing of al-Qaeda in Iraq have detained the two Moroccans .... . Their interrogation is ongoing," said the statement, which was posted on Wednesday.

On Monday, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry said embassy driver Abderrahim Boualam and employee Abdelkrim el Mouhafidi disappeared last week after driving back from Jordan, where they had gone to pick up their paychecks. Residing in Iraq since 1979, Boualem is married to an Iraqi national and father of three children. He was recruited by the embassy as a driver in 2002. Al Mouhafidi has been in Iraq since 1982. He is also married to an Iraqi national and has been employed in the embassy since 1993 as a maintainer.