Iraqi goalkeeper kidnapped
The goalkeeper of the Kirkuk football club was kidnapped travelling from northern Iraq to visit relatives in Baghdad, a sports official said.
Gunmen seized Baha Abdul Karim Darweesh on the outskirts of Khalis, a Shiite enclave in the volatile Diyala province 50 miles north of Baghdad, according to a member of the Kurdish Football Federation.
Darweesh, a 24-year-old Sunni, lives in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk and was on his way to visit relatives in Baghdad when he was seized on Monday, the federation’s Omar Khatab said.
Athletes and sports officials have increasingly become targets of threats, kidnappings and assassination attempts in Iraq, either as part of tit-for-tat violence between Shiites and Sunnis or for ransom.
Victims have included the Sunni head of one of Iraq’s leading football clubs, an Iraqi international referee, a top player on the Iraqi Olympic football team and a national volleyball player.
