Higher Education Minister Abed Theyab said that 70 of 150 hostages had been released and those freed "were tortured and suffered a lot."

Dozens of people were taken Tuesday in a brazen raid on the central Baghdad office that handles academic grants and exchanges, with the men handcuffed and loaded aboard about 20 pickup trucks by gunmen dressed in the uniforms of Interior Ministry commandos.

Speaking on state television, Theyab, who has suspended his membership in the Cabinet until the crisis is resolved, sharply criticized Iraq's security apparatus.

"Those in charge of security should be responsible for security," he said of the Ministry of Interior, which runs the police and security agencies.

Basil al-Khatib, a spokesman for Theyab, said in an interview that people freed after the mass kidnapping at the ministry on Tuesday told officials that: "Some of the hostages were tortured and killed."

He said he didn't know how many hostages were abused and slain.

Shiite militiamen are suspected of having carried out the kidnappings.

Government ministries have given wildly varying figures on the number of people seized, with reports ranging from a high of about 150 to a low of 40 to 50.