Baghdad

Unesco Director-General Koichiro Matsuura has appealed for the release of dozens of people kidnapped from Iraq's Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. But a week after the incident, the Iraqi Government was unable to confirm the number originally taken or how many had been released.

A spokesman for Abed Dhiab al-Ajeeli, the Higher Education Minister, said 100 of the 150 victims were still being held 36 hours after the incident, but the Government's chief spokesman maintained that only 39 people had been seized, all but two of whom had been released.