Hidden Nook

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - Gumen kidnapped a Catholic archbishop in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul in what the Vatican condemned as a "terrorist act" as persistent violence dogged the run-up to landmark January 30 elections.
Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, 66, leader of Mosul's Syrian Catholic community, was seized by gunmen at around 5 pm (1400 GMT) as he was about to enter his car, local priest Father Faraj told AFP.

The kidnappers then tossed him into the trunk of their vehicle before speeding away, said the priest, who follows the rival Chaldean rite. The Chaldean patriarch in Baghdad, Emmanuel Delly, said Casmoussa "was abducted outside his home as he was returning from a pastoral visit in the diocese of Mosul. He was abducted and taken off in a car. We don't know who took him, nor the reason why," Delly told the missionary news agency Misna by telephone.

"We gave the news to the Vatican and now we are doing everything possible to trace him and we hope we can save him."
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls said the Holy See "condemns in the firmest manner this terrorist act and demands that Monsignor Casmoussa be rapidly returned safe and well to his ministry".
The motive of the abduction was not immediately clear but it came amid mounting sectarian violence in the run-up to this month's election. The home of the Chaldean patriarch was attacked late last year prompting condemnation from Pope John Paul II.