Gunmen abducted 11 Iranian pilgrims, killing one and their Iraqi driver before releasing three women in the group, one of the freed women said on Sunday. The Shi'ite pilgrims were abducted on Friday after visiting the Imam Ali al-Hadi shrine in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, Maliha Abdul Wahab, 35, told a news briefing called by the governor of Salahaddin province. Wahab said seven gunmen stopped their car on the road between Samarra and Baghdad, forced them out of the vehicle and handcuffed the men in the group. She said one pilgrim was shot dead after an altercation with the kidnappers, and when the Iraqi driver tried to intervene he was killed as well. "I recognized two of the gunmen. I saw them during our praying in Ali al-Hadi," Wahab was quoted as saying by Reuters. She and the two other women in the group were freed in a deserted area on Saturday, where they were found by an Iraqi army patrol. Her husband and brother were among the pilgrims, she said. The Iraqi army earlier said the kidnapping had taken place on Saturday and that 12 pilgrims were involved.
