BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Egyptian ambassador-designate Ihab al-Sherif, the first diplomat from an Arab nation to Iraq, was kidnapped from his upscale Mansour neighborhood late Saturday.

Sherif had been in the country only a few weeks after Egypt agreed to upgrade its mission to a full embassy complete with an ambassador. Sherif is the highest-ranking foreign diplomat to be kidnapped in Iraq. Another Egyptian diplomat was kidnapped briefly last year and released.

The seizure reflects an attempt by insurgents to thwart the fledging democracy's efforts to normalize relations with its neighbors.

The Egyptian embassy would not comment on Sherif's kidnapping and did not release any details to Iraq's ministry of the interior in Baghdad.

Egypt severed its diplomatic ties with Iraq after Saddam Hussein's army invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Meanwhile, as U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales arrived in Baghdad on a surprise trip to visit with Justice Department personnel assigned to Iraq, new concerns were expressed over the deaths of civilians at the hands of U.S. troops.

Laith Kuba, the spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, criticized the American military over the deaths of Iraqi civilians in recent weeks.

The killings also were raised at a meeting of the Iraqi Parliament yesterday during a debate on Iraqi sovereignty.

Many members were upset that al-Jaafari would not set a timetable for American troops to withdraw. Mahmoud Otthman, a Kurdish legislator, said at least 10 Iraqis have been killed in the last week by American soldiers.

"When sovereignty was transferred there was an agreement about foreign troops in Iraq," said Kuba, the president's spokesman. "There have been many recommendations, but these regulations have not been abided by. We are not going to take these incidents lightly."

Three journalists, including Knight Ridder special correspondent Yasser Salihee, were shot by American soldiers. The cousin of Iraqi U.N. ambassador Samir al Sumaidaie also was killed in Haditha during an offensive in the area.

Their deaths are under investigation, according to U.S. military officials in Baghdad.

"The killing of Dr. Yasser Salihee sheds light on a problem," Kuba said. "The prime minister is going to criticize this at a very high level."

In London, the British government said yesterday that it had raised concerns with the interim Iraq government about reports that its police force had abused prisoners.

The Ministry of Defense and the Foreign Office said they were "deeply concerned" by reports of the abuse of suspected terrorists held in Iraqi police cells. Neither government department would detail the alleged offenses.

Yesterday, the Observer newspaper published three photographs it said were from post-mortem and hospital examinations that showed evidence of torture of alleged terror suspects by Iraqi security units.

Kuba blamed the abuses on a "culture of violence" in Iraq and stressed that the practice wasn't sanctioned by the government.

Gonzales, who wrote the 2002 memo that eased restrictions on the use of torture of prisoners captured in Iraq and Afghanistan, spent the day meeting with Iraqi officials, including al-Jaafari, and U.S. military personnel. The Department of Justice has nearly 400 employees and contractors working in Iraq, assisting on legal and security issues.

Accompanying Gonzales was FBI Assistant Director Willie Hulon, who directs the FBI's counterterrorism division.

In the latest violence, a car bomb killed three Iraqi policemen yesterday near the northern city of Kirkuk, and two U.S. soldiers were wounded in a suicide attack near a checkpoint in the volatile western city of Ramadi.

Late yesterday, Iraqi police reported a suicide attack on an Iraqi patrol along the dangerous Baghdad airport road. Police had no immediate casualty report.

Also in Ramadi, a U.S. military helicopter caught fire Saturday night, destroying the $13.5 million CH-47 Chinook and injuring one crewman, the U.S. military said.

Knight Ridder Newspapers reporter Huda Ahmed contributed to this report, which included information from The Associated Press.

Accused extremist

killed in border clash

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian security forces have killed an Arab extremist who was trying to illegally cross into neighboring Lebanon with other suspected militants, Syria's official news agency reported yesterday.

Two Syrian soldiers also were killed in the clash that erupted after the Arab man opened fire on a Syrian border patrol, according to the news agency SANA. The slain man's nationality was not given. The report did not say when or where along Syria's border with Lebanon the clash happened.