Gunmen kidnap 42 male university students in Iraq
Gunmen kidnap 42 students in Mosul, Iraq
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Sunday, 06, Apr 2008 11:35
Gunmen have kidnapped 42 university students near the Iraqi city of Mosul as they travelled in buses from their homes.
The abduction is one of the biggest in the country for many months.
"Gunmen stopped two buses in a village south of Mosul," Khalid Abdul-Sattar, police spokesman for Nineveh province, told news agency AFP.
"One of the buses managed to flee. The second bus was stopped and 42 male students were seized."
According to Mr Sattar, the gunmen ambushed two buses, which were ferrying students from their homes in Shurkat, 40 miles south of Iraq's third largest city Mosul.
Although no group has claimed responsibility, Sunni Islamist al Qaeda will be the main suspect. The US military says Mosul is al Qaeda's last major stronghold in the country and is involved in a major offensive against the group in the city.
Meanwhile, five people were killed and 17 wounded in clashes between US soldiers and gunmen in Baghdad on Sunday, Iraq police reported.