Qatar expresses 'regret' after women from 10 flights taken for medical examinations at Doha airport

Australia's foreign minister says 18 women, including 13 Australians, on Qatar Airways flight were subjected to compulsory intimate searches

The government of Qatar has said it regrets any distress or infringement on the personal freedom of any traveller" caused by a decision to conduct intimate medical examinations of women transiting through Doha international airport, in what it said was an urgently-decided search" to find the mother of an abandoned baby.

On Wednesday morning the Australian government confirmed that 18 women on a flight from Doha to Sydney were subjected to the compulsory medical examination, including 13 Australian citizens. Passengers from 10 flights leaving Doha on the evening of 2 October were affected.