Posted on 12/16/2015 7:03:15 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Gunmen kidnap 26 from Qatari hunting group in Iraq
Gunmen kidnapped 26 members of a Qatari hunting party in southern Iraq, officials said on Wednesday, the second high-profile seizure of foreign nationals in the country in three months.
Posted December 16, 2015 12:35 GMT
"Twenty-six Qatari hunters were kidnapped at about 3:00 am (0000 GMT) by unknown gunmen," according to a police major from Muthanna province, where the kidnappings took place.
A local council member from the province confirmed the number of people kidnapped but did not specify their nationality.
"Unknown gunmen in dozens of pick-up trucks attacked a place where Qatari hunters were located," the official said.
Two officials said that members of Qatar's ruling family were among those kidnapped but did not identify them by name.
Doha has not confirmed or commented on the kidnapping.
Two Iraqi officers providing security for the party were also seized, officials said.
Wealthy citizens of Sunni Gulf states venture to countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq to hunt with falcons without the bag limits and conservation measures restricting the killing of certain species that they face at home.
There is significant hostility in Iraq, especially in the Shiite-majority south, over the Gulf countries' policies on the Syrian civil war and perceived complicity in the rise of the Islamic State jihadist group.
Qatar is especially reviled on this front.
The kidnappings come a little over three months after gunmen seized 18 employees of a major Turkish construction firm working in Baghdad.
The Turkish workers were later freed unharmed.
Interesting.
On a hunting trip? SHOOT BACK!
The article says they were “hunting with falcons” but never says what they were hunting?
Who goes hunting in a war zone?
Seriously, this bodes il, if in fact members of Royal Family kidnapped.
Bustards.
STORY SMELLS, YOU DON’T HUT FALCONS, THEY ARE NOT A GAME BIRD, THEY ARE BIRDS YOU USE TO HUNT WITH. BIRDS OF PREY.
I would suspect that there would be members of other Arab royal families hunting with the Qataris. Royals like to pal around together.
This almost has to be an inside job.
Please read the article. It says “hunt with falcons.”
Let me check , yep I don’t care
“Iraq is one of several countries frequented by Gulf Arab huntsmen and falconers as they search for prey that either does not exist in their own countries or which has been almost hunted to extinction there.
“Their favoured prey is the Asian houbara bustard, akin to a small turkey, and to find it and other similar species Gulf hunters often travel to Morocco, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“They take with them their prized falcons, typically peregrines, sakers and lanners, which are expertly trained to home in on their quarry at high speed.
Small white pickup trucks?
Why the hell would anyone go to Iraq for a hunting trip? Why not go the other direction to Ethiopia or Sudan or something? That was really stupid.
Perhaps they were hunting infidels.
Quotas have been established, but little heeded.
Lets hope Bob Dole never finds out...
More likely. But that didn’t deter the kidnappers.
Good question, and WHAT do they hunt for?
What Would Cecil Say ?
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