UN welcomes release of 26 Qatari abductees in Iraq

22 April 2017 – The United Nations has welcomed the release and return to their country of 26 Qatari nationals abducted in Muthanna governorate, Iraq, in December 2015.

&#8220We understand that the Qatari nationals were released unharmed. We are grateful to the Iraqi authorities and to all who contributed to the safe release of the abductees,&#8221 said a statement issued yesterday evening by UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.

According to media reports, the 26 Qataris were kidnapped from a desert camp in Iraq’s southern Muthanna province in mid-December 2015.