Gunmen kidnapped Jalal Sharafi (Persian: جلال شرفی), the second secretary of the Iranian embassy, as he drove through Karrada district in central Baghdad, Iraq on 6 February 2007. The gunmen wore uniforms of the Iraqi 36th Commando Battalion, a special Iraqi unit under United States direction. The U.S. military denied any involvement in the kidnapping. After his release on 3 April 2007, the diplomat claimed he was tortured by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives. The U.S. government denies that they had involvement in the kidnapping and alleged torture of Sharafi.