Iranian diplomat released

An Iranian diplomat, held for two months in Iraq, was released on Tuesday.

Iranian officials said Jalal Sharafi, second secretary at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, was released Monday and has already left Iraq.

Sharafi was seized on 4 February by gunmen wearing Iraqi military uniforms in Karradah, a Shiite controlled neighborhood of central Baghdad.

Several of the kidnappers were arrested after a shoot-out only to be released the next day when uniformed men carrying government identification cards demanded they be handed over to them, Iraqi officials said.

Iran alleges that Sharafi was taken by a special Iraqi unit that reports directly to American forces.

The month before Sharafi's abduction, five Iranians, accused of having links to a group providing Shiite arms, were arrested by US troops. It is unclear whether Sharafi's kidnapping was related to the arrests.

Sharafi's release may be linked to the case of the 15 British sailors and marines seized last month in disputed waters of the Persian Gulf by naval units of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

A senior Iraqi foreign ministry official, who requested anonymity said on Tuesday that the government was "intensively" seeking release of the five Iranians.

"This will be a factor that will help in the release of the British sailors and marines" the official said.