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Article: Iraq's rising industry: domestic kidnapping; This week, Iraqi officials said they discovered the bodies of 50 kidnapping victims in the Tigris River.(WORLD)
- Article from:
- The Christian Science Monitor
- Article date:
- April 22, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 The Christian Science Publishing Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Jill Carroll Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
BAGHDAD -- Abu Mohammed was chatting with a friend in an auto repair shop in Salman Pak two months ago when masked gunmen surrounded him and stuffed his 260-pound frame in their trunk and sped away.
He spent the next 10 days locked in a bathroom with a hood over his head, marking the passage of time by listening to his captors' prayers.
A wealthy businessman who traveled daily from Baghdad to Salman Pak for more than 20 years, Mr. Mohammed survived after paying $60,000 to the kidnappers that he says were extremist Sunnis. "When I asked for a cigarette they said 'why do you want ...