Gunmen kidnapped seven Chinese citizens in Iraq, the latest in a spate of hostage-taking, and Beijing appealed to Baghdad today to rescue them.
Yesterday's abductions threatened to overshadow a visit to China by US vice-president Dick Cheney, a key force behind the American-led invasion of Iraq, which Beijing opposed.
Mr Cheney arrives in Beijing tomorrow. The seven Chinese men - Mr Xue Yougui, Mr Lin Jinping, Mr Li Guiwu, Mr Li Guiping, Mr Wei Weilong, Mr Chen Xiaojin, and Mr Lin Kongming - entered Iraq from Jordan on yesterday morning and were abducted in Falluja, west of Baghdad, the official Xinhua news agency said.
It did not identify them further or say what they were doing in Iraq. Falluja lies on the main highway from Amman, the capital of Jordan, to Baghdad.
Fighting erupted in Falluja overnight in the first major breach of an informal truce in the town where more than 600 Iraqis had been reported killed in a week of battles between US Marines and Sunni Muslim rebels.
China's leaders said they were "very concerned" about the kidnappings and the Foreign Ministry said it had called on Iraq's new interior minister to identify the kidnappers, locate the hostages and rescue them safely.
US governor of Iraq Paul Bremer named Samir Sumaidy interior minister on Friday.
The seven men were from the coastal province of Fujian, the oldest 49 and the youngest 18, Xinhua said.