CNN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Gunmen have seized two Egyptians in a raid on their Baghdad office, Iraqi officials say, the third in a series of kidnappings of foreigners in the Iraqi capital this month.

Last week, two Americans and a Briton were kidnapped at their home in Baghdad by armed men. A group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi later beheaded the Americans, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, and posted video footage of the killings on the Internet.

The group says it will also kill Briton Kenneth Bigley, 62, unless all Iraqi women are freed from U.S.-run jails.

U.S. officials say the only women currently held in Iraq are two “high-value detainees” at Camp Cropper near Baghdad airport. The interim Iraqi government says it has no imminent plans to release any detainees — as have Washington officials.

Bigley’s mother Lil, who made a televised appeal for his kidnappers to “show mercy,” was taken to hospital shortly afterwards in the northern English city of Liverpool feeling “unwell,” police said.

The 86-year-old later returned home and was on Friday awaiting news from Iraq with relatives. “The strain of the emotional plea took its toll,” said CNN Correspondent Robyn Curnow from Liverpool. (Full story)

In the latest kidnapping, armed men tied up the guards outside the Egyptians’ office in western Baghdad on Thursday night, put the two engineers in a black BMW and took them to an unknown location, according to Iraqi Interior Ministry official. Col. Adnan Abdul Rahman.

Rahman said the Egyptians worked for Iraqna, a subsidiary of the Egyptian-owned mobile telecommunications company Orascom.

A spokesman for Orascom said the kidnappings were “not politically motivated,” Reuters reported.

The violence and hostage-taking comes during a dramatic visit to the United States by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who is putting an upbeat face on the future of his young government, besieged by the insurgency.

Allawi is trying to drum up support for Iraq at the United Nations, where the General Assembly is meeting, and in Washington, where he addressed Congress and met with President Bush.

The interim prime minister has repeatedly vowed that the violence endured by Iraq will not deter the upcoming balloting.

However, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested on Thursday that parts of Iraq might be excluded from elections set for January due to rising violence. (Full story)

Earlier this month, gunmen kidnapped two women Italian aid workers in broad daylight in Baghdad. (Full story)

The Italian government has urged caution on reports that the women have been killed, saying the claims are “unreliable” and part of a terror campaign being carried out through the media.

“We, therefore, urge the maximum caution, care and responsibility,” the office of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said in a written statement.

Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, both 29, were working for a humanitarian group called Bridge to Baghdad when their office was raided by insurgents more than two weeks ago and they were taken hostage, police said.

Two separate groups claimed to have killed the women.

Since April, militant groups in Iraq have seized more than 100 hostages. Most have been released but about 30 have been killed.

The Italian government has warned that reports of two Italian women being held captive in Iraq have been killed are “unreliable.”

Ten Turkish employees of a construction company, Vinsan, are also being held hostage in Iraq. Video of the hostages aired on al-Jazeera last weekend.

On Thursday Turkey’s government said it was considering an alternative route for its truck drivers bringing goods into neighboring Iraq in an effort to stem kidnappings. (Full story)

The latest kidnappings came as Britain awaited news Friday of Bigley.

On Wednesday Bigley appeared on an Islamic Web site tearfully pleading for his life and asked for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to intervene.

The crisis has put the UK government in a tough position, said CNN Correspondent Robyn Curnow.

Blair, who has faced personal criticism by Bigley’s family for failing to free him, refuses to negotiate with terrorists but says he is deeply concerned for the family.

“He has a difficult job trying to balance this,” Curnow said, adding that Blair had twice telephoned the family to offer his sympathy.

Some analysts say the prime minister could face a backlash if Bigley is killed and Blair is perceived to have not done enough.

Blair also faces his Labour Party’s annual conference in Brighton next week where he is expected to hear anger from left-leaning opponents of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

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