Kidnap

In his police testimony, Lukasz Herba said he got involved with the group behind the alleged kidnap near Milan because he had leukaemia.

Ms Ayling's lawyer Francesco Pesce has said the 20-year-old was told she would be sold in the Middle East "for sex".

Ms Ayling was allegedly held by a group called Black Death for five days.

She came home on Sunday, after talking to police investigators, 26 days after she flew to Milan for a photo shoot.

Online ransom

Brig. Gen. Saad Maan says the gunmen intercepted the convoy of acting Deputy Minister Abdul-Karim al-Saadi in the mainly Shiite eastern part of the city on Tuesday, kidnapping him and two guards.

Maan says the guards were later freed, without providing further details. The motive for the kidnapping was not immediately clear.

Kidnapping for ransom has been common in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.