The Iraqi government today launched a high-level investigation into the co-ordinated kidnap of 33 guards from the headquarters of a Baghdad private security firm.

Gunmen in police uniform stormed the offices of al-Rawafid Security at about 1pm yesterday, spending several hours stealing weapons and a safe before leading the employees to a fleet of white SUV vehicles.

The guards offered no resistance, apparently convinced that their abductors were genuine police officers. They have not been heard from since.

Police patrolling nearby also failed to respond, because they too thought the raiders were from a government agency.

"As far as we’re concerned, there were no interior ministry orders to arrest these men," General Rasheed Flaih said. He added: "It’s very strange that so many security guards could have been abducted without any shots being fired."

Ali Ghaleb, the Deputy Interior Minister, said: "We’re looking at all possibilities. We’re investigating this at the highest level."

Fadel Jaber, head of Action Group which has responsibility for Al-Rawafid, refused to describe the incident as a kidnapping, saying only that he hoped for "good news in the coming hours".

The abductions are the latest event in a rising tide of violence which is pushing Iraq towards the brink of civil war.

The US State Department has accused elements within Iraq’s security forces - which consist mainly of Shia Muslims - of acting independently of governmental authority to launch revenge attacks on their Sunni rivals.

There are also claims that leading figures among the ruling Shia coalition are attempting to cover up the number of deaths in the ongoing sectarian bloodshed.

Party figures have been accused of ordering government-run mortuaries and hospitals to under-report the body counts from a wave of executions which followed the bombing of an important Shia shrine last month.

Nick Meo, Times correspondent in Baghdad, said it was difficult to quantify the extent of militia activity in the city.

He said: "Some mainstream Sunni politicians are claiming that Shia militia have infiltrated the police in Iraq. There have been claims, for quite a long time, of death squads operating, possibly within the interior ministry or with the help of the interior ministry.

"It is a murky area. Nobody knows what is going on and there is a lot of confusion and fear. Ordinary Iraqis are worried about this. Sunnis fear the police, they are not really sure who they are.

"There are massive dangers for the credibility of the security forces here, especially with incidents like the one yesterday. Especially if it turns out that this was a death squad which abducted these men."

He added that nobody knew what had actually happened yesterday but said the death squad scenario had to be a possibility at the moment. "It is fair to say you can buy (police) uniforms in the market," he said.

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