Gunmen kidnap Iraqi coach for blind

[Barrett808]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen abducted a man who coached blind athletes and the head of Iraq's national basketball federation on Wednesday, police said, the latest in a wave of kidnappings targeting sports figures.

Lt. Ali Mohsin said men driving four SUVs drove up to a youth club on Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad Wednesday afternoon, and seized Khalid Nejim, the basketball federation chief who also was a coach for the national basketball team, and Issam Khalef, who coached blind athletes.

Athletes and sports officials have become targets of threats, kidnappings and assassination attempts, with an Iraqi international soccer referee kidnapped just last month as he left the soccer association's offices. The kidnappers reportedly demanded a $200,000 ransom, although it wasn't known if the money was ever paid.

Days earlier, gunmen killed a 37-year-old former Iraqi national volleyball player, Naseer Shamil, in his shop in Baghdad, while 22-year-old Ghanim Ghudayer, a popular Iraqi soccer player who was a member of the country's Olympic team was kidnapped in September. He has not been heard from since.

In July, Iraq's national soccer coach, Akram Ahmed Salman, resigned after receiving death threats against him and his family.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061101/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_coaches_kidnapped

[Barrett808]

1. 2 Sunni coaches abducted from youth club in Baghdad

2 Sunni coaches abducted from youth club in Baghdad
SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer
November 1, 2006 10:19 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Gunmen seized two Sunni coaches from a youth club Wednesday in Baghdad, while authorities searched for dozens of Shiites abducted along a dangerous highway north of the capital in another outbreak of Iraq's relentless tit-for-tat sectarian violence.

The U.S. military also reported the deaths of a soldier in fighting Tuesday in volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad, and a Marine killed in a non-combat related incident, raising to 105 the number of American service members killed in October - the fourth deadliest month since the war began.

Meanwhile, frustration over poor turnout in Iraq's parliament flared, with the body's speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani having to be physically restrained from attacking a fellow Sunni lawmaker.

Armed men driving four SUVs drove up to a youth club on Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad and seized Khalid Nejim, the basketball federation chief who also was a coach for the national basketball team, and Issam Khalef, who coached blind athletes.

It was the latest in wave of kidnappings targeting sports figures who have found themselves caught up in spiraling violence carried out by Shiite militias as well as Sunni-led insurgents.

The assault came a day after some 40 Shiites were seized near the town of Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, as armed gunmen stood nearby, just out of sight of U.S. soldiers who were disarming a roadside bomb nearby, witnesses and police said.

Unarmed men checked identification cards and seemed to be looking for familiar faces among travelers stopped in heavy traffic, said the witness, who asked to be identified only by the pseudonym Abu Omar for fear of reprisals.

He said he and other Sunni travelers were allowed to travel onward after showing their ID cards.

(more)

http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564833180885320756