Two German engineers have been taken hostage in Iraq. Their names are Thomas Wischke and Rebiti Drata.

Let me reiterate why hostage taking has become so common in Iraq: because it works. Worse, when you find out that a particular country is willing to pay ransom then the obvious lesson to be learned is take more hostages from that country. Among the two latest hostages to be released in Iraq, one was freed by Coalition troops and the other, Sussane Osthoff, was freed after Germany paid ransom.

Hat tip to reader George who sends this CNN link:

Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped two German engineers outside their workplace in the Iraqi industrial town of Baiji on Tuesday, police said, the latest in a surge of abductions of foreigners in Iraq.

At least six gunmen, in two unmarked cars, grabbed the two men just outside a detergent plant in an industrial complex around Iraq's biggest oil refinery, police Lieutenant Colonel Kadhem Abbas said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: "We have indications that two Germans could have been kidnapped."

He told reporters in Berlin the ministry had set up a crisis team and was seeking further information from companies. A government official said the two men appeared to be from the eastern city of Leipzig and were working for an Iraqi firm.

The two were seized at around 8:30 a.m. (0530 GMT), said Abbas, who speaks for the Joint Coordination Center for Iraqi security forces and the U.S. military in the province....

An official at the factory, declining to give his name, said the two men were only on their third day of work there, setting up a new plant, and were grabbed as they arrived for work by car. Their driver was left unharmed by the kidnappers.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:29 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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