Print

Mail

wiki links

Two Iraqis kidnapped with US citizen found dead

Two Iraqi interpreters kidnapped along with a US citizen a day ago have been found murdered in central Basra, a spokesman for the British military told reporters yesterday.

The two were found murdered near a stadium with bullets in the back of their heads, Major Charlie Burbridge said.

Earlier, US embassy spokesman Louis Fintor confirmed that US officials were investigating the reported abduction from near Iraq's second largest city.

"Officials are investigating reports that an American citizen was kidnapped from near Basra on January 5," he said.

The three were kidnapped from an area called Al-Haritha, north of Basra, local police chief Moham-med al-Mussawi said.

They were traveling in a black Opel car when three other vehicles full of gunmen ambushed them and kidnapped them, police said.

The abduction brought to six the number of Americans held hostage in Iraq.

A US soldier of Iraqi descent was kidnapped in October after he slipped out to visit his Iraqi wife.

One Austrian and four US security contractors were kidnapped from Safwan on Nov. 16. They were escorting a convoy on behalf of Kuwaiti-based Crescent Security when they were seized by kidnappers wearing police uniforms.

Their captors released a video earlier this week in which they appeared healthy but showed the hostages asking for the release of all detainees in US and British-run prisons in Iraq.

Several Islamist and nationalist resistance groups operate in Iraq, along with illegal militias, corrupt security force units and gangs who seize hostages for ransom.
This story has been viewed 1791 times.