Prominent Iraqi boxer snatched off Baghdad street

Gunmen kidnapped a well-known Shi'ite boxer as he was driving on a dangerous street in central Baghdad, police and sports officials said Friday, the latest in a series of attacks against sports figures amid spiraling sectarian violence. Hassan Hadi, 42 and the father of two children, was en route to a spare parts store that he owns on Monday when the attackers intercepted his car and abducted him, police said. Police said the boxer was seized while traveling on Haifa Street, a Sunni insurgent stronghold on the west bank of the Tigris River about two kilometers north of the Green Zone, site of the US and British embassies as well as the Iraqi government headquarters.