Kidnappers who seized dozens of men from a ministry building in Baghdad on Tuesday tortured and killed some of their hostages, the Minister for Higher Education said today.
"There are a number of people who were killed, they are employees and guards," Minister Abd Dhiab said, adding that around 70 hostages had been released out of around 150 staff and visitors originally seized by men in police uniforms.
"According to the people released, they were killed by torture," Mr Dhiab said, declining to say how many had been killed.
Mr Dhiab, a member of a Sunni Arab party in the Shia-led government, reiterated his determination to boycott the government until all the hostages are released.
