Iraq: Defense official freed after abduction

A kidnapped Iraqi defense official was freed Sunday after Iraqi security forces stormed a house where he had been held, a government spokesman said. Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi, a spokesman for the security crackdown under way in Baghdad, said Iraqi agents were acting on a tip when they raided a house in western Baghdad early Sunday. Lt. Gen. Thamir Sultan, a Defense Ministry adviser who was abducted in the same area a day earlier, was freed in the raid, al-Mousawi said. All four of his captors were arrested.