BAGHDAD, Iraq – Gunmen seized the head of CARE International’s operations in Iraq – a woman who has worked on behalf of Iraqis for three decades – as the British government yesterday weighed a politically volatile American request to transfer soldiers to dangerous areas near the capital.

Early today, CARE Australia, which coordinates the international agency’s Iraq operations, announced it had suspended operations because of the abduction, but it said staff would not be evacuated.

Elsewhere yesterday, a mortar attack killed at least four Iraqi National Guard soldiers and wounded 80 at a base north of Baghdad. An American contractor also died when mortar shells crashed onto an American base in the Iraqi capital. And three car bombs exploded in the northern city of Mosul, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding three.

Margaret Hassan, who holds British, Irish, and Iraqi citizenships and is married to an Iraqi, is among the most widely known humanitarian officials in the Middle East. She is also the most high-profile figure to fall victim to a wave of kidnappings sweeping Iraq in recent months.

The Arab TV station Al Jazeera broadcast a brief video showing Ms. Hassan, wearing a white blouse and appearing tense, sitting in a room with bare white walls. An editor at the station, based in Qatar, said the tape contained no audio. It did not identify what group was holding her and contained no demand for her release.

Ms. Hassan, who is in her early 60s, was kidnapped about 7:30 a.m. while being driven from her home to CARE’s office in a western neighborhood of the capital, a CARE employee said. The employee said the group did not employ armed guards.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ms. Hassan’s husband, Tahseen Ali Hassan, said his wife was abducted near the CARE office.

“Two cars intercepted her from the front and back,” he said. “They attacked the car and pulled out the driver and a companion. Then they took the car to an unknown destination.”

He said his wife had not received threats and that the kidnappers had not contacted anyone with any demands. “Nothing like this happened before, because CARE is a humanitarian organization, and she has served the Iraqi people for 30 years,” he said.

Ms. Hassan has lived in Baghdad for 30 years, helping supply medicines and other humanitarian aid and speaking out about Iraqis suffering under international sanctions during the 1990s.

She went to work for CARE International soon after it began operations in Iraq in 1991 following the Gulf War, with programs focusing on rebuilding and maintaining water and sanitation systems, hospitals, and clinics.

Although terrorists have kidnapped at least seven other women over the past six months, all were later released. By contrast, at least 30 male hostages have been killed, including three Americans beheaded by their captors. Ms. Hassan’s abduction occurred less than two weeks after a video posted on an Islamic Web site showed the beheading of British hostage Kenneth Bigley.