Kidnappers seized the British-Iraqi head of an international charity group in Baghdad on Tuesday and later she was shown sitting anxiously and alone in a video broadcast by an Arabic television station. Margaret Hassan, who has dual nationality and has lived in Iraq for about 30 years, was seized by kidnappers at 7:30 a.m., a spokeswoman for Care International in London said.
Her capture comes just two weeks after militants in Iraq beheaded another Briton, engineer Kenneth Bigley. Two Italian aid workers kidnapped and held in Iraq last month were later released.
Hostage taking, suicide bombings and sabotage have kept Iraq in bloody chaos since last year's US-led invasion.
Four Iraqi National Guards were killed and up to 80 wounded in a mortar attack on their base north of Baghdad. US helicopters helped in evacuating the wounded.
A Defence Ministry statement said the attack occurred at Tarmiya, about 25km north of Baghdad.
The Care International spokeswoman said Hassan had grown deep roots in Iraq.
Hassan is the head of operations for Care in Iraq. Most international aid agencies withdrew their foreign staff after two Italian women aid workers were kidnapped last month.