Gunmen kidnapped a senior Iraqi Oil Ministry official Sunday. Attackers stopped Adel Kazzaz, director of the North Oil Co., shortly after he left the ministry. They beat his bodyguards and whisked him away, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said. The North Oil Co. runs Iraq's oil fields around the northern city of Kirkuk. The other major fields, in the south, are run by a separate company. Both are government-owned. Kazzaz was in Baghdad to attend a meeting with ministry officials, Jihad said. The northern fields have been plagued for years by sabotage attacks on pipelines and other infrastructure. Exports were restored last month after a long delay but halted again last week and not expected to resume soon.