Doha/Information Office/ 16 December 2015/ The Foreign Ministry said Wednesday in a statement that it is following the kidnapping of a number of Qatari citizens who entered southern Iraq on a hunting trip, immediately after it received the news. The ministry started contacts with the Iraqi government and concerned entities at the highest security and political levels in Iraq in order to find out the details of the Qatari citizens' abduction and works on their release as soon as possible, stressing that they entered the Iraqi territories through an official permit from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and in coordination with the Iraqi embassy in Doha. The statement added that HE the Assistant Foreign Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohamed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi and HE Qatar's Ambassador to Baghdad Zayed bin Saeed Al Khayareen were delegated to follow on procedures taken in this regard with the Iraqi government so as to ensure the safety of the Qatari citizens.