Computers donated by South Korea stolen in Iraq

Armed Iraqis stole millions of dollars worth of personal computers and internet equipment donated by South Korea while it was being transported near Baghdad late last month, according to a South Korean official.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Armed Iraqis stole millions of dollars worth of personal computers and Internet equipment donated by South Korea while it was being transported near Baghdad late last month, a South Korean official said on Tuesday.

The Korea International Cooperation Agency, a government-linked aid agency, supplied the equipment for use in Iraqi universities, the official from the South Korean foreign ministry said.

"We have no confirmation on the identity of the militia," the official said by telephone on condition of anonymity.

He did not say when exactly the incident happened, but said that no South Korean aid workers were abducted in the heist of equipment valued at about US$3.5 million.

The aid agency and the South Korean embassy in Iraq had contacted Iraqi authorities to try and recover the equipment, he added.

South Korea has 3200 troops in Iraq on a peacekeeping and reconstruction mission, the third-biggest contingent of foreign troops after the United States and Britain.