At least 17 Turkish employees of a company building a football stadium in the Sadr City area of north Baghdad on Wednesday were kidnapped by gunmen, Agence France Press reported Wednesday, September 2nd citing security officials.
A police colonel said that 17 Turks were kidnapped by black-clad gunmen in pickup trucks, while an interior ministry official put the number seized at 18.
The colonel said those kidnapped included three engineers as well as employees of the administrative department and labourers.
Neither official identified the company, but the website of Turkey’s Nurol said it had been awarded a “design-build contract” for a 30,000-seat Sadr City Stadium.
The project also includes practice fields and a hotel, it said.
Kidnappings for ransom are a persistent problem in Baghdad, and the identity of the kidnappers was not immediately clear.