Gunmen wearing the uniforms of Iraqi security forces kidnapped 25 people from a mobile phone store in central Baghdad today.
The gunmen pulled up in 15 four-wheel-drive vehicles and kidnapped employees and customers of the company in the main shopping district of the capital.
The abductions took place on Arasat street, once a thriving area that has seen many businesses close due to violence ravaging the country.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on street sweepers, killing one and injuring two.
Earlier today, unidentified attackers shot a senior Iraqi official dead in his car, and police discovered the bodies of three men a day after gunmen beheaded five people.
Brigadier Fakhri Jamil, an intelligence officer, was killed in a drive-by shooting today while in his car in Baghdad.
Police discovered the bodies of two unidentified men, who had been shot in the head the chest, in northeastern Baghdad. A third, bullet-riddled body of a man showing signs of torture, was recovered from the Tigris river south of Baghdad.
Funerals were held today for five people who were beheaded by unidentified gunmen yesterday near the northern town of Hawija.
The four policemen and a lawyer were travelling in a car from Tikrit to Kirkuk when they were stopped by then gunmen. All five were ordered out of the vehicle and beheaded.
At least four roadside bombs and one car bomb exploded today in various places, injuring seven people. A roadside bomb yesterday seriously wounded two policemen in the central city of Samarra.
The latest violence comes amid calls to replace the interior minister because of worsening security in Baghdad and surrounding towns. The violence is mostly blamed on sectarian conflict between the country's Shia and Sunni communities.