BAGHDAD — Gunmen traveling in 10 black SUVs seized a senior Sunni politician who had previously been jailed on terrorism charges from his home in Baghdad on Saturday, police officers said. It was not immediately clear if Riyadh Al-Adhdah, the head of the Baghdad Provincial Council, was arrested by security forces or abducted, the two police officers said. Seven of his bodyguards were also taken, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki discussed Al-Adhdah's disappearance with Salim Al-Jabouri, the Sunni speaker of parliament, at a meeting Saturday. The speaker called the disappearance a "problem" without saying whether Al-Adhdah had been arrested or kidnapped. Sunnis have long complained of being unfairly targeted by security forces, and their discontent with Al-Maliki's rule is seen as a central cause of the country's unrest. — AP