Gunmen kidnapped Iraqi soccer star Ghanim Khudheyir just days before he was due to sign a transfer to a Syrian club to escape the raging violence in his homeland.
The 22-year-old Khudheyir, a striker who helped Al Quwa Al Jawiya, the Iraqi Air Force club, win the first post-war championship in 2005, was taken from his home by gunmen in civilian clothes who claimed to be members of the Interior Ministry intelligence service.
Athletes and coaches have been targets in Iraq's mounting violence. Iraqi national team socer coach Akram Salman fled to Iraqi Kurdistan earlier this year after receiving death threats. Khudheyir was just one of many Iraqi players who have hoped to use their soccer talents to earn transfers from the Irqai Super League to other Middle East countries.