18 CONSTRUCTION WORKERS KIDNAPPED - IRAQ

At least 18 Turkish construction workers have been kidnapped by gunmen in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, Iraqi and Turkish officials say.

The workers were employed by a Turkish company building a sports stadium in the north-eastern Sadr City district.

They were sleeping in caravans at the site when armed men wearing military uniforms reportedly arrived in pick-up trucks at dawn and took them away.

Neither the identity nor the motive of the kidnappers was immediately known.

Last year, 46 Turkish citizens were seized by jihadist militants from Islamic State (IS) as they captured the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. They were released unharmed after three months in captivity.

Recently, Turkey began conducting air strikes against IS in Syria and allowing US-led coalition warplanes to use its airbases.

Sadr City is also stronghold of the pro-government Shia militias battling IS in Iraq.