22 Iraqi soldiers kidnapped

Twenty-two Iraqi soldiers were kidnapped near the Syrian border, an Iraqi military source said, as four US soldiers and 10 militants were killed in less than 24 hours in attacks north of the capital.

With no let-up in strikes against Iraq's fledgling security forces, senior Shia leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim demanded Wednesday that the armed wing of his party play a greater role in hunting down insurgents, who have also singled out the country's majority Shia community for attacks.

The soldiers, all Shias, were nabbed by armed men in Rawa, about 250km west of Baghdad, after they had left their base, said the military source, adding that nothing had been heard from them since.

Meanwhile, a top-level European Union delegation including British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw arrived in Baghdad yesterday to prepare for a conference on Iraqi reconstruction in Brussels this month, officials said.

"They will meet leaders of the new Iraqi government. The foreign secretary has met members of the government previously, but it will be a chance for him to see their work in Iraq," the Foreign Office in London said.

In Washington meanwhile US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left the door open Wednesday for Iraqi officials to negotiate with groups linked to the insurgency, saying political reconciliation must be an Iraqi process.