SAMARRA: Iraqi police on Thursday found the bound body of Akram al-Daini, brother of Sunni MP Nahida al-Daini, five days after he was kidnapped near Tikrit in central Iraq, a police officer said.

“Police found the body of Akram al-Daini bound with iron chains and with gunshot wounds on it, in the village of Al-Bujwari,” north of Baghdad, the officer said, adding that the body of an unknown woman was found near that of Daini.

A security official said that Akram al-Daini was kidnapped with his bodyguard on the road between Samarra and Tikrit on Saturday night, and that the kidnappers demanded a ransom of $1 million but the family refused to pay.

According to the police officer, Daini's bodyguard survived but was shot a number of times.

“The gunmen ordered Daini's guard to get out of the car and run, and they opened fire on him from behind and left him for dead, but he was able to go to the police” and told them about the direction the gunmen were travelling, the officer said.

Iraq has seen a wave of kidnappings as part of sectarian violence, and also targeting foreigners and wealthy Iraqis, in the years since the 2003 US-led invasion.

Nahida al-Daini is an MP from the secular, Sunni-backed Iraqiya list.