Seven freed after kidnapping in Iraq: military

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces have freed seven of 11 people who were kidnapped earlier on Sunday near Baquba, north of Baghdad, the Iraqi military said.

Nine university students, their driver, and another man were taken hostage on Sunday morning, police said, when gunmen stopped their vehicle at a fake checkpoint.

Major-General Abdul-Kareem al-Rubaie, head of security operations for Diyala province, said Iraqi forces had then fanned out to search for the kidnappers. They found them, but were only able to free seven students, before the gunmen fled with the four remaining hostages.

The students had been returning to Diyala university after a weekend break.

The kidnapping occurred two weeks after 40 students were seized by gunmen at a fake checkpoint near the northern city of Mosul. They were held for several hours before security forces freed all of them.

Although the identity of Sunday's kidnappers was not known, the incident comes amid an upturn in violence in northern Iraq, where Sunni Islamist al Qaeda has regrouped after being pushed out of Baghdad and western areas last year.

Kidnappings, for both political and financial reasons, began increasing in Iraq in 2004, a year after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

(Writing by Noah Barkin; editing by Sami Aboudi)