The same sources confirmed that the nine released individuals had arrived in Kuwait. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry had confirmed that several citizens who entered southern Iraq on a hunting trip were abducted in a desert area near the Saudi border.
Muthanna Governor Faleh Abdul Hassan al-Ziyadi said unidentified gunmen using 70 four-wheel-drive vehicles had abducted 26 Qatari hunters in the Samawah desert.
Iraqi media quoted police sources as saying unidentified gunmen in military uniforms abducted them late Tuesday night from the Najaf desert, southwest of the province.
Gulf hunters have traveled to the southern Iraqi desert to hunt with falcons since before 2003, when the trips were organized under intelligence-service supervision. After the overthrow of the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, the number of visiting Gulf hunters declined for security reasons, but they continued to come despite security concerns.
Their trips, which usually last several days, often include purchasing expensive falcons from Iraqi hunters.