Gunmen kidnap Iraq's Olympic boss

Gunmen kidnapped the head of Iraq’s Olympic committee and at least 30 employees today after storming a meeting of sports officials just days after the coach of Iraq’s national wrestling team was killed.

The gunmen were riding in three government vehicles and wearing police uniforms when they broke into a cultural centre in central Baghdad, police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said.

Mahmoud said Ahmed al-Hijiya, president of the committee, was taken around 1.30pm along with other employees as they attended a conference in Karradah, a Shiite neighbourhood in Baghdad.

Security guards outside the meeting did not interfere because they thought the kidnappers were legitimate law enforcement, police said.

The kidnappings of Iraq’s Olympic officials comes a day after Iraq’s national wrestling team pulled out of a tournament in the United Arab Emirates when its coach was killed in Baghdad.

The Sunni coach, Mohammed Karim Abid Sahib, was seized with one of his wrestlers as they left the sports centre to buy some sweets in the northern neighbourhood of Kazimiyah, where the team was preparing for the tournament.

He was shot to death while trying to escape; the other wrestler got away, according to police and wrestling officials.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, clashes broke out between Iraqi soldiers and gunmen in several areas of the city, leaving at least three people dead and 11 others wounded, police said.

Seven people were injured in a mortar attack near Haifa Street in downtown Baghdad, just blocks from the Green Zone which houses US and British embassies and the Iraqi government. All were taken to hospital, police 1st. Lt. Muhammad Khayoun said.

Similar clashes also broke out blocks away, injuring four and killing two civilians. US troops rushed to seal the area after the attacks, said Iraqi Army Maj. Salman Abdul-Wahid.

The area along Haifa Street has seen heavy violence in recent weeks, which prompted Iraqi leaders to declare a state of emergency in Baghdad after erratic violence erupted there nearly a month ago.

Also today, Iraq’s parliament voted to extend the state of emergency for 30 days, a measure that has been in place for almost two years.