BAGHDAD, Dec 20: Gunmen seized the driver of the Jordanian ambassador to Iraq in Baghdad on Tuesday, the latest foreign abduction to jolt the war-torn country, Jordanian and Iraqi sources said.

The driver, a Jordanian based in Iraq for several years, was kidnapped in the Saydiyah district of southern Baghdad, Iraqi police said.

“Mahmud Salman Saaidiyat was kidnapped by gunmen travelling in two cars, a Honda and a Nissan pick-up, which police are now looking for,” the source said.

Iraq has been beset by a resurgent hostage crisis in recent weeks, with fears growing for four western peace activists and a missing French engineer, who were all kidnapped in Baghdad.

“The Jordanian government has started contacts to determine who is responsible for this abduction,” a Jordanian official said.—AFP