DOHA , Qatar, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A hunting party of at least 27 people from Qatar, including royal family members, was abducted Wednesday in the Iraqi desert, official said.
The unidentified kidnappers, in several dozen vehicles, attacked the hunters' camp at dawn near Layyah, a Samawa Desert town near the Iraq-Saudi Arabia border. The hunters were involved in falconry, a sport historically popular in the Middle East, involving trained falcons used to hunt prey.