CBS staff kidnapped in Basra
on 12 Feb 2008
The
Guardian reports this morning that two employees of the US broadcaster
CBS News have been kidnapped in Basra in southern Iraq. One is believed to be a British journalist,
The UK journalist was seized by gunmen in Basra with his interpreter on Sunday, according to the Iraqi news agency Aswat al-Iraq (Voice of Iraq). Aswat al-Iraq quoted an unnamed police source as saying that the pair were kidnapped from near their hotel, the Qasr al-Sultan, in the centre of the city. A CBS News spokeswoman confirmed that the broadcaster was attempting to locate two of its staff who had gone missing in the southern Iraqi city. "Two journalists working for CBS News in Basra are missing. All efforts are under way to find them and until we learn more details, CBS News requests that others do not speculate on the identities of those involved," the spokeswoman said. link via Greenslade.
UPDATE: 13/02/08
The interpreter abducted in the southern Iraqi city of Basra alongside an unnamed British journalist working for the American CBS network has been freed, according to a news agency report. However, the male CBS journalist has not yet been released, according to Reuters. link
