A Jordanian businessman was taken hostage in Baghdad by kidnappers demanding US$250,000 in ransom, the official "Petra" news agency said Tuesday. Jamal Sadeq al-Salaymeh was kidnapped Monday from his home in al-Saydiyah, a residential area on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital, by three men who took him away in a white car. Petra said that al-Salaymeh, who works as an agent for a Japanese firm in Baghdad, told his office manager in a telephone call that the kidnappers had demanded the ransom. A Jordanian Embassy worker in Iraq who refused to be identified said the embassy was contacted Monday night about the kidnapping of a Jordanian citizen in Baghdad. There was no further contact or information, the embassy worker said.
