Gunmen kidnap 50, including Iraqi Olympic chief

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1537772.htm

Gunmen kidnap 50, including Iraqi Olympic chief

BAGHDAD, July 15 (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped dozens of Iraqi sports officials, including the head of the national Olympic committee, as they met in Baghdad on Saturday, just hours after parliament voted to extend a state of emergency.

The attack came despite a continued crackdown by Iraqi security forces in Baghdad. Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki's government is struggling to get a grip on worsening violence in the capital, particularly communal bloodshed.

Police and Interior Ministry sources said the gunmen, wearing blue camouflage Interior Ministry uniforms, stormed a meeting hall in central Baghdad, at about 2 p.m. (1100 GMT) and killed a bodyguard of Olympic Committee chief Ahmed al-Hadjiya.

Hadjiya and about 20 bodyguards, along with at least eight committee officials and the hall's guards, were then bundled into a convoy of vehicles and driven off, police sources said.