BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded today near the Ministry of Education in a busy commercial area in northern Baghdad, killing six people including a woman, according to the Interior Ministry and hospital officials.

Meanwhile, kidnappers released two Iraqi guards abducted along with an American, a Nepalese, a Filipino and an Iraqi from the Baghdad compound of a Saudi company on Monday, police and a U.S. Embassy spokesman said today.

Spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman of the Interior Ministry said the 8:45 a.m. car bomb occurred in the northern Azamiyah district.

Al-Nu'man Hospital officials said six people were killed, including one woman. Ten others were wounded, including a 2-year old girl.

The blast detonated near the Ministry of Education offices, according to a ministry employee who refused to give his name.

Most of the employees managed to escape unscathed but the building's guards, who were in the rear of the building, were among the casualties, he said.

The two freed guards, who had been beaten, were left blindfolded and handcuffed in Baghdad's Hay al-Amil area late Monday, said a police officer involved with the investigation on condition of anonymity.

"Don't work with them again or else we'll kill you," the kidnappers told the two men, according to the officer. He said he believed the two were freed because they were from the Fallujah area.

On Monday, assailants stormed the compound of a Saudi company in the upscale Mansour district of western Baghdad and seized the six during a gunbattle. One guard and one assailant were killed during the shootout, police said.

The U.S. Embassy confirmed that an American was abducted but has not identified him.

The six were originally identified as an American, a Nepalese and four Iraqi guards. The U.S. Embassy on Tuesday identified the four remaining captives as an American, a Nepalese, a Filipino and an Iraqi.

The kidnapped Filipino is believed to be an accountant, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said today. They said Filipino diplomats in Baghdad were trying to verify reports that initially identified the man as Roberto Torrongoy.

The offices where the hostages were abducted is about 500 yards from the home of two Americans and a Briton kidnapped by militants in September. All three were later killed.

The abductees are believed to work for the Saudi Arabian Trading and Construction Company, or Satco. The company caters food and provides food supplies to the Iraqi army and others, a company official said from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Neighbors in the area described seeing several cars filled with gunmen, some blocking the road to the house.

"We heard gunfire. I went outside to see what's going on when a man pointed a machine gun at me and said: 'Get in or else, I'll shoot at you,'" said Haidar Karar, who lives in the neighborhood.

From his house, Karar saw "at least 20 attackers, some masked and some not." He said some were wearing traditional Arab robes and all were carrying automatic weapons.