A spokesman for the aid group called "Bridge to Baghdad" on Tuesday named the two Italians as Simona Pari and Simona Torretta.

A spokesman in Rome for another Italian aid group named Intersos, which shares offices with Bridge to Baghdad, said the two Iraqis seized by the gunmen were a woman who worked for Intersos and an engineer who worked for Bridge to Baghdad.

Bridge to Baghdad's web site says it is a volunteer association established after the end of the 1991 Gulf War, to promote humanitarian aid to Iraq and fight an economic embargo imposed on the country when Saddam Hussein was president.

In August an Iraqi group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq kidnapped and later killed Italian reporter Enzo Baldoni, who worked for the Milan-based weekly "Diario".

Insurgents have kidnapped over 100 foreigners and Iraqis in Iraq since April in a campaign to drive out foreign companies and troops from the country.

Most of the kidnappings have taken place outside of Baghdad and this latest abduction is bound to raise security concerns.