New Wave Of Kidnappings

Iraqi Authorities Believe Activists Captured In Pre-Election Ploy

(CBS/AP)  The German woman and her Iraqi driver were kidnapped Friday, the German government announced. ARD public television said it obtained a video in which the kidnappers made their threats. The station posted a photo on its Web site showing what appears to be Osthoff and her driver blindfolded on the floor, with three masked militants standing by, one with a rocket-propelled grenade.

Osthoff's mother told Germany's N24 news station that her daughter was an archaeologist who was working for a German aid organization distributing medicine and medical supplies since before the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Germany has ruled out sending troops to Iraq and opposed the U.S.-led war, but has been training Iraqi police and military outside the country. Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed for Osthoff's release.

"The German government sharply condemns the act and urgently appeals to the perpetrators to return both safely and without delay," Merkel said. "The German government will do everything in its power to bring both back to safety."

The six Iranian pilgrims were seized Tuesday near a Shiite religious shrine north of Baghdad, police said. Iranian television reported that all were freed Tuesday night. Iraq and Iran agreed this year to exclude pilgrim visits to shrines in Baghdad and Samarra because of the dangerous security situation.

Iraq was swept by a wave of foreigner kidnappings and beheadings in 2004 and early 2005, but they have dropped off in recent months as many Western groups have left and security precautions for those who remain have tightened. Insurgents, including al Qaeda in Iraq, have seized more than 225 people, killing at least 38 — including three Americans.

It was unclear whether the recent kidnappings were the work of a single group or simply coincidental. However, police believed they may be part of an insurgent campaign to discredit the government and disrupt the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.

"Terrorists will try to destabilize the situation during the election period" in order to discourage people from voting, police Maj. Falah Mohammedawi said. "They will try to do this through kidnappings, assassinations and threats to citizens. We have our complete security plan to confront this."

Sheik Hamza Abbas, the Sunni cleric who was assassinated Tuesday, had made contacts with the Americans during the siege of Fallujah last year and had been denounced as a collaborator, residents said. Later, he severed contacts with the Americans.

Abbas, head of the Religious Scholars Council in Fallujah and the mufti of Anbar province, died when two gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons as he was leaving a mosque, his brother Dr. Ahmed Abbas said. He was in his mid 60s.

U.S. and Iraqi officials hope a big turnout in the December election will undermine the insurgency and improve chances for the United States and its partners to begin reducing troop levels in Iraq next year.

To do that, the U.S.-led coalition needs to accelerate the training of an Iraqi army and police force to assume greater security responsibility.