The situation with Margaret Hassan`s kidnapping is unclear

Gunmen seized the head of CARE International’s operations in Iraq a woman who
has worked on behalf of Iraqis for three decades as the British government on
Tuesday weighed a politically volatile American request to transfer soldiers
to dangerous areas near the capital.

Elsewhere Tuesday, a mortar attack killed at least four Iraqi National Guard
soldiers and wounded 80 at a base north of Baghdad. An American contractor also
died when mortar shells crashed onto a U.S. base in the Iraqi capital. And three
car bombs exploded in the northern city of Mosul, killing two Iraqi civilians
and wounding three.

Margaret Hassan, who holds British, Irish and Iraqi citizenships and is married to an Iraqi, is among the most widely known humanitarian officials in the Middle East. She is also the most high-profile figure to fall victim to a wave of kidnappings sweeping Iraq in recent months.

The Arab television station Al-Jazeera broadcast a brief video showing Hassan, wearing a white blouse and appearing tense, sitting in a room with bare white walls. An editor at the station, based in Qatar, said the tape contained no audio. It did not identify what group was holding her and contained no demand for her release, informs ABC News.

According to Xinhuanet, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Poul Nielson on Tuesday condemned the kidnapping of Margaret Hassan, the country director of CARE inIraq.

In a statement issued here, Nielson said:" I am appalled to learn about the kidnapping of Margaret Hassan, the Country director of CARE in Iraq, who chose to dedicate her life to help the Iraqi people."

"Her abduction comes as yet another blow for the humanitarian community, and for all the vulnerable Iraqis benefiting from aid programs," he said.

CARE is a long-standing partner of the European Commission’s Humanitarian department (ECHO) in Iraq, with a decade of experience in implementing EU-funded projects in the country.

Margaret Hassan was reportedly kidnapped in Baghdad while beingdriven to work in the morning in a western neighborhood of the capital.

Al-Jazeera television aired footage of a British-Iraqi woman working as the head of the Care International charity in Iraq who was kidnapped earlier today.

The video showed Margaret Hassan sitting in a room and looking anxious. No audio could be heard.

The station showed close-ups of Hassan’s identification cards and said the video was accompanied by a claim of responsibility from an unnamed Iraqi group.

"An unnamed Iraqi armed group said it had captured a British national working as a director at Care. The Iraqi group did not identify itself or give demands," al-Jazeera said.

Unlike most of the previous videos of kidnappings in Iraq, no militants or banners appeared in the brief video which only showed Hassan, who was wearing a cream-coloured shirt.

A television official told Reuters the station had received the video from sources after Hassan’s kidnapping, but declined to give any further details, reports the Age.

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