Police and media said at least nine Qataris who were part of a hunting camp group kidnapped in southern Iraq had escaped and crossed the border into Kuwait.
Officials said around 100 gunmen abducted at least 26 Qataris early on Wednesday from a hunting camp they had set up in an Iraqi desert area near the Saudi border.
Iraqi police Colonel Ali Muteiwit told Reuters on Thursday that some of the hunters—at least nine—had managed to escape the camp and that the kidnappers had failed to locate them.
He added that the gunmen left other Asian men at the camp, and the authorities sent the hunters and the Asian men to Kuwait through the Safwan border crossing. There was no information about the whereabouts of the others.
Al Jazeera said on its website that seven Qataris, one Saudi, one Kuwaiti and several Asian nationals crossed into Kuwait. No immediate information was available about their condition.
Citizens of Gulf countries often come to the desert of southern Iraq to hunt at this time of year.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the abduction.