BAGHDAD, Marc 26, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Kidnappings have become a lucrative industry in Iraq since the US invasion-turned-occupation of the oil-rich country, with up to 40 Iraqis being abducted every day by armed gangs for an average ransom of 30,000 dollars per person.

"I was kidnapped in front of the building of my company and the kidnappers had typical Mosul accents and weren't even masked," businessman Sultan Rashid Jirjis told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Saturday, March 25.

"My family paid 50,000 dollars to these criminals," he added.

"The second time I was kidnapped, it cost me 40,000 dollars."

The northern city of Mosul is known for epidemic kidnappings which hit four cases per day, according to Seif Abdel Rahman al-Abbadi, a lawyer running a human rights association in the city.

Doctors, businessmen, entrepreneurs, jewelers and generally anyone with money are favorable targets for criminal gangs.

The US military estimates that between 30 and 40 Iraqis are abducted every day across war-ravaged Iraq, usually for an average ransom of about 30,000 dollars.

Iraqi police estimate that only 40 percent of kidnappings are reported.

Many blamed the booming kidnappings industry on the government's scant attention and the beleaguered security forces.

"We want the government to pay a little more attention to the kidnappings of Iraqis," said 32-year-old businessman Salah Mohsen.

"We hear, here and there, about Iraqi hostages who have been freed, but with no details."

Rua Luay, whose 10-year-old brother was kidnapped, also opened fire on the government.

"We contacted police and even had the phone number of the kidnappers, but they just told us to pay the ransom," she said.

Her brother was freed after a ransom of fifty thousand dollars was paid, almost leaving the family bankrupt.

But Iraqi police defended themselves, saying they have no enough tools to fight kidnappers.

"Certainly we receive plenty of complaints, but how can we search for hostages when certain neighborhoods and areas around Baghdad are inaccessible without hundreds of men and serious military power," said an Iraqi officer on condition of anonymity.

An Iraqi officer said kidnappings tend to be mostly done by armed gangs for financial gain, though there are exceptions.

"The second trend relates to their work, like the case of a young man kidnapped on Friday, who had two brothers, one who is an officer in the police academy, the other who works as a food contractor supplying the Iraqi army."

Dozens of foreigners have been taken hostage in Iraq since the US invasion in 2003.

Some have been killed, while there has been speculation some governments paid ransoms to secure the release of their nationals.

Some other foreigners were freed, latest of whom were three Western aid workers of the Christian Peacemakers Teams during a US-British rescue operation on Thursday, March 23.

Several foreign hostages are still held, including US journalist Jill Carroll and two German engineers.

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