Iraqi Soccer Player Kidnapped

BAGHDAD -- The goalkeeper of the Kirkuk soccer club was kidnapped as he was traveling from northern Iraq to visit relatives in Baghdad, a sports official said Thursday.

Baha Abdul Karim Darweesh was seized by gunmen Monday on the outskirts of Khalis, a Shiite enclave in the volatile Diyala province 50 miles north of Baghdad, according to a member of the Kurdish soccer federation.

Darweesh, a 24-year-old Sunni, lived in the northern city of Kirkuk, the federation's Omar Khatab said.

Athletes and sports officials have increasingly become targets of threats, kidnappings and assassination attempts in Iraq, either as part of retaliatory violence between Shiites and Sunnis or for ransom.

Victims have included the Sunni head of one of Iraq's leading soccer clubs, an Iraqi international soccer referee, a top player on the Iraqi Olympic soccer team and a national volleyball player.

Darweesh was not a member of the Iraqi national team, which last month won the Asian Cup.