Two German Engineers, Thomas Wischke Thomas Nitzschke and Rebiti Drata Rene Braeunlich, were taken hostage on their third day on the job this morning. Reports say 6 terrorists in Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped the two in Baiji -- which is 110 miles north of Baghdad -- as they arrived for work. Their driver was left unharmed.
This is what happens when governments continue to negotiate and pay ransoms. You end up with a continued problem. Thomas Wischke Thomas Nitzschke and Rebiti Drata Rene Braeunlich will now have to pay for the continued support and reinforcement other governments have given to these terrorist hostage takers by giving in to their demands.
CNN
At least six gunmen, in two unmarked cars, grabbed the two men just outside a detergent plant in an industrial complex around Iraq's biggest oil refinery, police Lieutenant Colonel Kadhem Abbas said.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: "We have indications that two Germans could have been kidnapped."
He told reporters in Berlin the ministry had set up a crisis team and was seeking further information from companies. A government official said the two men appeared to be from the eastern city of Leipzig and were working for an Iraqi firm.
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The deputy governor of Salahaddin province, Abdullah Jubara, confirmed the report. He named the two, transliterating their names from Arabic, as Thomas Wischke and Rebiti Drata. No other details were available.
Update
The names have been revised to their western equivalents above since the initial report.
Tipped by: The Jawa Report
