Gunmen abduct 50 people, Iraqi Olympic chief

BAGHDAD, July 15 (Reuters) Gunmen wearing camouflage uniforms abducted about 50 people, including the head of Iraq's national Olympic committee, while they were holding a meeting in Baghdad on today, police sources said.

Details of the mass abduction were sketchy, but police said the incident took place at a major conference centre in central Baghdad.

Some mass kidnappings reported by police have later turned out to be arrests made by other security departments.

Police sources said the well-known Olympic Committee chief Ahmed al-Hadjiya and 21 bodyguards had been taken, along with some 30 athletes, by gunmen in blue camouflage uniforms who were driving official-looking four-wheel drive vehicles.

A Reuters journalist saw a convoy of such vehicles with a large number of young people apparently under arrest driving at speed through the Karrada neighbourhood close to the conference hall around 1.30 pm local time. It was not clear if the incidents were related.

Iraq's Olympic Committee was dominated by Saddam Hussein's son Uday until the US invasion of 2003.

Reuters DH GC1626