American journalist killed in Iraq

Unidentified gunmen killed an independent American journalist in Basra city, south Iraq. Police sources said that the killed journalist, Steven Vincent, was working to compose a book on Basra.

News were contradictory from police sources over the implications of the killing of the journalist. While a police officer said he was killed while walking in al-Istiqlal ( independent) area in the downtown of the city, other security sources said that gunmen kidnapped him together with his Iraqi translator in the same street on Monday evening, while his body was found later, and his female translator was severely injured.

The American journalist has been working in Basra since two months. He writes for several US papers such as the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor. He also wrote a book under the title "The red Zone" about Iraq.