Gunmen kidnap 17 people in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, July 26 (Reuters) Gunmen in police uniforms kidnapped 17 people from a Baghdad apartment building today, Interior Ministry sources said.

They said the kidnappers abducted 10 men, five women and two children from different families.

Militants, insurgents and criminal gangs all carry out kidnappings in Iraq, which has witnessed a sharp rise in sectarian violence that has raised fears of all-out civil war.

Many victims of abductions are killed.

REUTERS SI BST1938