About 100 gunmen abducted at least 26 Qataris from their hunting camp in a sprawling desert area of Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday, the regional governor and police said, and a wide-scale search for the group is now underway. Unconfirmed reports also suggest members of Qatar's ruling family may be among those who have been kidnapped.

"An armed group driving dozens of pickup trucks kidnapped at least 26 Qatari hunters from their camp in the area of Busaya in Samawa desert near Saudi borders," Samawa governor Falih al-Zayady said.

Qatar's foreign ministry said it was working with the Iraqi government to secure the release of a group of its citizens while on the trip in southern Iraq.

A statement, cited by state news agency QNA, said the citizens had entered Iraq with an official permit from the Iraqi interior ministry. QNA said Qatar's foreign minister had spoken with his Iraqi counterpart about the incident.

Hunters from various Gulf states often travel to the area at this time of year for hunting with falcons.

A Samawa police colonel said the hunters were escorted by an Iraqi security force but that it decided not to engage a large number of gunmen.

"We are talking about at least 100 gunmen armed with light and medium weapons broke into the Qatari camp and abducted the hunters at around 3am local time on Wednesday," said the police colonel, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the mass abduction. Islamic State militants often travel in large numbers in convoys.