AP lensman killed in Baghdad

Baghdad & New York: A photographer with the Associated Press has been shot and killed in Baghdad, the US news organization said on Friday.

The body of Ahmad Hadi Naji, 28, was found with a gun shot wound in the back of his head, six days after he was last seen by his family as he left for work, the agency's Director of Media Relations and Public Affairs said in a statement.

Linda Wagner said Naji, whose body was found in a morgue, had been a messenger and occasional cameraman for the Associated Press for two-and-a-half-years.

"All of us at AP share the pain and grief being felt by Ahmed's family and friends," AP President and CEO Tom Curley said in a statement.

Naji, 28, was the fourth AP staffer to die violently in the Iraq war and the second AP employee killed in less than a month.

"The situation for our journalists in Iraq is unprecedented in AP's 161-year history of covering wars and conflicts. The courage of our Iraqi colleagues and their dedication to the story stand as an example to the world of journalism's enduring value."

Wagner said the circumstances of Naji's death were unclear. He is survived by his wife and four-month-old twins.

Iraq was by far the deadliest country for journalists in 2006, with 32 killed, according to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

The group has said a total of 92 reporters have been killed in the country since the US-led invasion in 2003, as well as an additional 37 media support workers - interpreters, drivers, fixers and office workers.

Also , two Iraqis, who were abducted on Friday with an American contractor, had been found dead near a stadium in the center of the southern Iraqi city, police said.

"The two victims were the translator and a driver," said a Basra police official.

Basra police chief, General Mohammad Humadi, confirmed that a US citizen had been kidnapped and said he was an American of Iraqi origin.

The contractor's name and the company for which he worked were not known.

Dozens of Iraqis are found slain almost every day in Baghdad, many believed to be victims of sectarian death squads.