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PAULA ZAHN: We have picked the kidnapping of dozens
of people in Baghdad as our "Top Story" tonight.
Right now, all of Baghdad's universities are shut
down because of this attack. It happened at a
research institute. Dozens of gunmen in police
uniforms surrounded the building, rounded up as many
as 100 people, and then drove off with them.
Just a couple of hours ago, we got word that most of
the hostages have been freed.
Michael Ware in Baghdad has the very latest tonight
on that violence.
So, Michael, what's the latest on these kidnappings?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, it has
been quite a remarkable day here in Baghdad.
I mean, what started this morning with a mass
kidnapping here in the capital has ended just a few
hours ago in the middle of the Baghdad night, with
the Ministry of Interior saying most of the hostages
who were taken earlier in the day have been released.
Now, this whole affair began at 10:00 a.m., Baghdad
time, when, according to the Iraqi Minister for
Higher Education, in a nationally televised address
to parliament, said that as many as 80 gunmen in army
or police uniforms surrounded and then entered a
research institute, segregating men from women,
locking the women in a room, and taking an unknown
number of the men away in more than 20 vehicles.
Now, throughout the day, speculation continued as to
who was behind this. And, also, the numbers of men
who had been taken varied, according to government
officials, as the day evolved. We heard as few as 40,
as many as 150. What we have now heard from the
Ministry of Interior is that most of those taken,
these 40 to 150, have been released -- Paula.
ZAHN: And there is still strong suspicion at this
hour that Shiite militias had something to do with
these kidnappings -- the U.S. government putting
tremendous pressure on the Iraqi government to clamp
down on them. Will it make any difference at all?
WARE: Well, I mean, this could be a great test. I
mean, this may be a very illustrative kind of event.
Once we know what happened behind the scenes, should
we ever find out, it can tell us a lot about the
relative power of the prime minister vs. these
militias, most of which are buried within his
government. This could have been a victory
politically for the prime minister, or this may have
been some other kind of negotiations sorted out
behind closed doors.
So, at this stage, we don't know what impact it is
going to have. Until we know who did it, until we can
rule out Sunni insurgents, then, honestly, there's
going to be more questions to be asked than there are
answers.
ZAHN: And we will come back to you if we get any of
that information nailed down.
Michael Ware, thanks so much for the
update.