Kidnappers have abducted a Turkish shipping magnate and three others in southern Iraq and demanded a $25 million ransom, the Turkish private NTV television channel said on Saturday. It said Kahraman Sadikoglu had been seized in the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr alongside a boat captain and a driver, both Turks, and an unnamed bodyguard working for his company, "Lifter," which retrieves sunken ships. Sadikoglu's family had contacted the Turkish Foreign Ministry saying they had not heard from him in 10 days and that kidnappers had demanded a ransom of $25 million. The channel quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying the group had been abducted as they travelled from Iran to Iraq and that U.S. authorities had been alerted and British forces in the area had set up roadblocks around Umm Qasr.
