Horrible news. An Iraqi NYT stringer has been killed in Basra, the Times reports:

An Iraqi journalist and photographer working for The New York Times in Basra was found dead early this morning in Basra after being abducted from his home by a group of armed men wearing masks and claiming to be police officers, relatives said.

The journalist, Fakher Haider, 38, was found with his hands bound and a bag over his head in a deserted area on the outskirts of Basra, hours after being taken from his house. A relative who viewed his body in the city morgue said he had at least one bullet hole in his head and bruises on his back as if he had been beaten.

Mr. Haider had worked for The Times since April 2003 and had recently reported on the growing friction and violence among Basra's rival Shiite militias, which are widely believed to have infiltrated the police...

Update: Increasing trouble in Basra, the BBC reports.

Posted by Laura at September 19, 2005 03:46 PM