BAGHDAD, Feb 17: One of the wealthiest men in Iraq and his son were kidnapped from their luxury home in a bloody abduction that saw their five bodyguards murdered and laid out in the front garden with a bullet in the head.

The latest kidnapping comes amid a spree of hostage-taking over the past months of both foreigners and of large numbers of Iraqis, many seized for ransom.

Ghalib Kubba had just returned from travelling with his family on Thursday evening when gunmen wearing military uniforms broke into his house and kidnapped him and his son Hassan.

Police said the gunmen drove up in a minibus outside Kubba’s two-storey walled villa in the wealthy neighbourhood of Yarmuk in western Baghdad, but neighbours said they heard no gunfire.

Mohammed, who lives nearby, was told by local children that the gate to the compound was open at 10pm when he went in to investigate.

He said he found Mr Kubba’s five bodyguards laid out in the front garden in a pool of blood, each with a bullet through the head.

Mr Kubba’s wife, his son’s wife and his two grandchildren, were huddled inside the house, weeping. Soon after they called their driver who spirited them away.

One of the most prominent citizens of Iraq’s second city of Basra, Mr Kubba was appointed in April 2003 by the British in the aftermath of the invasion to head the city council and help rebuild the city.

He is the chairman of Al-Basra National Bank for Investment, where his son is managing director. Kubba senior also presides over the city’s chamber of commerce and owns a number of other businesses.

Calls to the interior ministry’s hotline reporting kidnappings jumped from nine a week in mid-December to 26 a week by mid-January.—AFP