Iraq Olympics President Kidnapped

(ATR) Reports from Baghdad say the president of the National Olympic Committee of Iraq has been kidnapped along with 30 members of the NOCI staff.

The reports say Ahmad Al Sammarai and his colleagues were taken by gunmen in police uniforms who broke into a meeting place in Baghdad on Saturday.

Reuters reports that three vehicles carrying Al Sammarai and young people were seen driving away from the cultural center.

Since the re-formation of the NOCI in January of 2004, violence has been directed at the committee and Iraqi athletes on several occasions.

Al Sammarai was the target of an ambush in 2004, while secretary general Tiras Odisho was kidnapped last year and released when a ransom was paid.

In May, 16 members of the Iraq national taekwando team were kidnapped west of Baghdad. There whereabouts are not known. Two weeks later, two Iraqi tennis players and a coach were gunned down, supposedly for not heeding edicts banning the wearing of shorts.

There is no immediate reaction from the IOC or other officials to this latest attack against the Iraq committee.