Witnesses to the kidnap last night of a lawyer involved in the Saddam Hussein trial who was later found murdered have claimed he was abducted by armed men in suits and ties who identified themselves as Iraqi Interior Ministry employees.
The Interior Ministry has repeatedly denied allegations from minority groups that it sanctions hit squads run by Shia militiamen.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said he had no information on the gunmen who kidnapped Saadoun Janabi, whom Baghdad lawyers said was an old friend of Saddam himself.
Janabi was representing one of Saddam's co-defendants, former judge Awad al-Bander.
"We tried to help him, but the gunmen told us to get away. They said they were from the Interior Ministry," said Mohammed Ibrahim, who works in the area.
Several witnesses said more than a dozen armed men entered Mr Janabi's office around eight o'clock last night and dragged him into a vehicle in the rundown Shaab district of Baghdad.
Police said Mr Janabi's bullet-riddled body was found about an hour later.
The Shia-led government and its interior minister have consistently denied condoning attacks on the once dominant Sunni Arab minority and former figures in Saddam's Baath party.
AP