Gunmen kidnapped three Iraqi women working in Baghdad's Green Zone on Thursday, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

"Unknown armed men in three BMW cars ambushed the car of three sisters working in the Green Zone, while they were leaving their house in al-Ielam district in southern Baghdad," the source said.

"The gunmen attacked the car and dragged the three women and the driver out of the car and took them away," the source said.

The heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad is housing government offices and US embassy.

Insurgents frequently attack Iraqis working with the US forces and those who work with the government, accusing them of collaboration with the US occupation of Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency December 22, 2005)