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One of more than 30 people seized during an Iraqi Olympic Committee meeting was released blindfolded in Baghdad on Sunday, while British soldier was killed during a raid in southern Iraq.

Nashat Mahir al-Salman, 75, a former member of Iraq's Olympic committee, was left unharmed in the capital's Baladiyat neighborhood, Iraq's Sport Journalist Union said. There was no word on the other hostages, including Ahmed al-Hijiya, chairman of the Olympic National Committee.

The victims were seized Saturday in a brazen daylight attack in the heart of Baghdad. Gunmen in about dozen vehicles pulled up outside the meeting and entered the conference center. They blindfolded and handcuffed participants and bodyguards, hustled them into the vehicles, and sped away. The bodies of two of the bodyguards were found later, dumped along a street.

The abduction came a day after Iraq's national wrestling team withdrew from a tournament in the United Arab Emirates; the team's Sunni coach was killed Thursday in a Shiite district of Baghdad.

The International Olympic Committee in Geneva, Switzerland, condemned "these acts against the sport community" and called for the immediate release of the hostages.

The British soldier was killed during an operation in Basra province to capture "those associated with terrorist activities," the British Defense Ministry said. It was the first British death by hostile fire in seven weeks. Another soldier was wounded.

"During the course of this, British soldiers came under small arms fire and two soldiers sustained gunshot wounds," the ministry said. "It is with great regret that we can confirm one of the soldiers has subsequently died of these injuries."

Two suspects were arrested after the exchange of fire.

Britain has about 7,200 troops in southern Iraq, and its military has reported 114 deaths in the country since the war began in 2003.

Southern Iraq, with its overwhelmingly Shiite population, is generally quieter than Baghdad and Sunni areas to the north. But security in Basra deteriorated last year after Shiite militiamen infiltrated the police force.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited Basra after taking office in May and promised to crack down on lawlessness there.

In Baghdad, a bomb hidden in a trash bag exploded in a commercial area of the Karradah district, killing four people and wounding 21 others, police said.

One person was killed and two were wounded when a bomb exploded near a police patrol in north Baghdad, police said.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, two barbers were killed in a drive-by shooting, police said. Drive-by shootings also killed one person in Mosul and another in Muqdadiyah, northeast of the capital.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies July 17, 2006)