CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Al-Qaida in Iraq said in a Web posting Tuesday that it carried out the kidnapping of Egypt's top envoy in Baghdad, an attack that raised warnings of a concerted campaign to isolate Iraq from the rest of the Arab world.

It was the first time that the group, headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility for kidnapping a diplomat. Al-Qaida in Iraq, considered one of the most fearsome militant groups in the country, has killed several foreign civilians and contractors that it abducted in the past, often releasing gruesome videos showing their beheadings.

"We, the al-Qaida in Iraq organisation, announce that the Egyptian ambassador has been kidnapped by our mujahedeen and he is under their control," said the statement posted on a Web forum used by Islamic radical groups to announce claims of responsibility.

The statement made no threat to kill the diplomat, Ihab al-Sherif, and did not present any demands. It said only that further information would be released later.

The claim could not be independently confirmed. It was signed with the user name "Abu Maysara al-Iraqi," the name used on all claims by al-Qaida in Iraq, which is headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

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