Detainees or Hostages?

Reuters reports that "dozens" of office workers were taken from a security firm in a raid by gunmen wearing Iraqi police commando uniforms:

Two sources said about 50 people were taken. They said that the gunmen, who arrived in at least 10 vehicles, broke into the headquarters compound of the firm in the Zayouna district.

One Interior Ministry source said he was unaware of any official police operation in the area.

Many Iraqis have complained that gunmen dressed in police uniforms raided their houses and seized relatives.

But Sunni and other groups have accused the interior ministry of condoning death squads operating inside the ministry targeting Sunnis areas. The ministry denies it.

Could this be the start of the al Qaeda "big bang"?

More from the The Malaysia Sun:

Among those captured in Baghdad's Zayouna district was the head of the private al-Rawafed security company, the BBC reported.

The raid escalated sectarian tensions since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Samarra, Iraq, shrine, sparking violence that has killed more than 400 people.

Also posted at The Jawa Report and Vince Aut Morire.