Mustafa, also President of the Iraq Boxing Federation, was reportedly seized by a group of 20 men in masks and military uniforms at a fake checkpoint near the bridge in Musayyib south of the capital city.

It came in the area known as the "triangle of death" following the United States-led invasion of 2003.

Mustafa, who hails from the northern Kurdish region of Dohuk. was reportedly freed less than 24 hours later. 

This development seemingly rules out the involvement of ISIS, with local media speculating that criminals or partisan-linked armed factions are more likely to have been responsible.

"Such incidents are completely unacceptable, especially after the significant progress achieved in security nationwide," Hakim Al-Zamili, head of the Parliament's Security and Defense Committee, said to Asharq Al-Awsat.

Al-Zamili praised the swift action of security and military authorities in helping his release.

A statement by NOCI President Raad Hamoudi echoed this praise in hailing the "extraordinary efforts exerted by our heroic security forces".

He expressed his "great happiness, thanks and appreciation" to all the good people in the country for their "interaction, cooperation and solidarity with the Olympic Committee and the Sports Centre in the time taken by the incident". 

Former NOCI President, Ahmad Al Hijia Al Samarrai, was kidnapped in Baghdad in July 2006 and never found again.