Seventeen Palestinian men were seized on Tuesday by armed men wearing police uniforms from a Baghdad house rented by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), the agency said.

"The UNHCR is very concerned and is seeking information about their whereabouts," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva.

Redmond said the men were taken early in the morning by men in "some sort of police uniform" who broke into the building.

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Palestinian refugees in Iraq, who total around 15,000, have become the target of increasing attacks, including kidnappings and killings, the agency said.

The refugees are perceived by opponents of Saddam Hussein to have had privileged treatment under the former president's rule. Saddam was executed on Dec. 30 for war crimes nearly four years after being toppled by a United States-led international coalition.