BAGHDAD — Something told him he was alone.
Kudum Hussein Ali couldn't be sure, because he was blindfolded. He only knew that the dusty house was still and that the gunmen who had been guarding him must either have gone out or fallen into a deep and silent sleep.
It was time to make a move.
Ali raised his tightly bound hands to his face and pushed the dark fabric off his eyes. The room was empty. Soundlessly, he crept into the hallway, down the stairs and to the front door, hoping to slip into the darkness without rousing his captors.
Kidnappings happen every day in Baghdad. A car blocks the road. Gunmen emerge and order their target into the trunk. The prey may resist momentarily, but it is futile. The men have guns, after all, and they usually work in teams.
The tale of Ali, a Shiite Muslim who survived a kidnapping, provides a rare look at the tactics used by captors and their prey as they try to outwit each other.
Abductions have become so common that, in May, the state-run National Insurance Co. began offering anti-terrorism coverage in life insurance policies, providing payouts for death or injury resulting from kidnapping.
"There was a missing link. We basically inserted that missing link," said Sadik F. Khafaji, the company's president.
The kidnapping epidemic is a reflection of the inability of the tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops to secure Baghdad's streets, much less stop bombings and other terrorist attacks.
According to the Ministry of Interior, which oversees Iraqi police forces, at least 188 kidnappings had been reported in Baghdad this year as of July 1. U.S. and Iraqi law enforcement experts say the actual number is probably much higher because many Iraqis do not report kidnappings out of distrust of the security forces and fear that the abductors will kill their captives if they seek help from soldiers or the police.
Some abductions are for ransom. Others are carried out by Islamic militants opposed to what they consider the sacrilegious lifestyles of professors, journalists, professional women and other members of Iraq's educated class.
Last month, Khafaji's company announced a special discount in coverage to university professors, among its customers most at risk. The aim is to persuade them to remain in the country and not contribute to its "brain drain."
"We consider them a national treasure, and we want them to stay," Khafaji said.
