 Iraqi cabinet minister Wael Abudl al-Latif said on Sunday he was safe and in his house in Baghdad, after police and Interior Ministry officials said he had been kidnapped south of the capital.
"It's not true. I am safe," Latif, minister of state for Iraq's provinces, told Reuters by telephone.
| "I just went out for a ride in my trunk." |
Police had earlier said Latif's convoy had been ambushed south of Baghdad and that he had been seized along with 10 of his bodyguards. But Latif, a Shi'ite judge and ally of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, said all his staff were safe. There was no immediate comment from police on how Latif had been falsely reported kidnapped. |