3 hostages freed, kidnappers arrested near Kirkuk

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi army forces freed three hostages from the same family and arrested their kidnappers southwest of Kirkuk on Sunday, an Iraqi military official said. “Officers from the Iraqi army 11th Brigade’s 4th contingent today liberated a man and two of his children and arrested four of their kidnappers in the district of Rashad, (35 km) southwest of Kirkuk city,” the contingent commander, Lt. Colonel Shawan Ghareeb, told IraqiNews.com. He did not give further details. The oil-rich city of Kirkuk lies 250 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (P)/SR 1