Gunmen kidnapped the chairman of Iraq's Olympic committee and at least 30 others Saturday in a brazen daylight raid on a sports conference in the heart of Baghdad. Armed clashes erupted elsewhere across the capital. Parliament extended the national state of emergency as at least 27 people — including two American soldiers — were killed in sectarian or insurgency-related violence. At about 1:30 p.m., gunmen in about dozen vehicles pulled up outside the meeting of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee, police and witnesses said. They entered the conference center, blindfolded and handcuffed participants and bodyguards, hustled them into the vehicles, and sped away, the Associated Press reported. Those kidnapped included Ahmed al-Hijiya, chairman of the Olympic Committee, and the presidents of the taekwondo and boxing federations, according to police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud. The bodies of two of the bodyguards were found later, dumped along a street. On its part, The International Olympic Committee in Geneva, Switzerland, condemned "these acts against the sport community" and called for the immediate release of the hostages.
