Nine out of the 26 kidnapped Qatari hunters in Iraq were freed Thursday and sent to Kuwait, BBC reported.
Gunmen in southern Iraq kidnapped a team of at least 26 Qatari hunters in southern Iraq on Wednesday.
Iraqi media reported that the unknown gunmen were dressed in military uniforms.
"All of those kidnapped are Qatari and a number of them are members of the ruling family in Qatar," Faleh Al-Zayadi, the governor of Muthanna province in Iraq said, adding that the kidnappers used more than 50 vehicles mounted with machine guns.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that it contacted the Iraqi government and concerned entities at the highest security and political levels in order to find out the details of the Qatari citizens' abduction, ensuring that it is working towards their immediate release, Qatar News Agency reported.
Short link: