A second Canadian man has been kidnapped in Iraq, the Canadian Foreign Affairs Department confirmed on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the department said Rifat Mohammed Rifat has been missing since April 8. The Canadian government has confirmed he is Canadian and had been kidnapped.

He is alive, the spokesperson said, but Ottawa does not know who kidnapped him or where he is being held.

Rifat, 41, was last seen leaving work at a prison west of Baghdad, where he was working for a Saudi company doing repairs.

The Foreign Affairs Department has notified his family and is urging the kidnappers to release him.

The confirmation of Rifat's kidnapping comes on the day another Canadian who had been held captive in Iraq was due home in Montreal. Fadi Fadel, an aid worker held for 10 days by Iraqi militants, was freed four days ago and has been recovering in Jordan.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2004)