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Iraq Minister's brother kidnapped in Baghdad

BAGHDAD: The brother of Iraq's Interior Minister was kidnapped here on Saturday as around 1,000 U.S. soldiers launched an operation against a ``terrorist sanctuary'' near the border with Syria.

Government negotiators continued to debate the draft charter in a bid to gain support from the disenchanted Sunni minority.

Abdul Jabar Solagh, brother of Interior Minister Bayan Baker Solagh, was kidnapped in the Al-Habibiyah district by armed men who blocked his car and forced him into theirs, an official said.

In western Iraq, U.S. forces launched Operation Iron Fist ``to root out Al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists'' in and around Sadah, near Al-Qaim, the U.S. military said.

The sweep also aimed at preventing ``foreign fighters'' from crossing over from Syria.

A Defence Ministry official said Iraqi forces were aware of the operation but not involved.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is said to be well implanted in the upper Euphrates Valley where the U.S. military says they obtain arms, supplies and reinforcements from neighbouring Syria. — AFP

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