Gunmen kidnap senior Iraqi oil official in Baghdad as he returned home from work

(AP) Gunmen kidnapped a senior Iraqi oil official in Baghdad as he was returning home from work, the Oil Ministry's spokesman said Friday.

Muthanna al-Badri, director general of the state company for oil projects, or SCOP, was kidnapped Thursday while he was driving from the ministry to his home in the predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhood of Azamiyah in north Baghdad, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told The Associated Press.

Badri was appointed head of SCOP by former Iraqi oil minister Thamer al-Ghadhban in 2005.