Interpreter freed; CBS journalist still held
An Iraqi interpreter for CBS News kidnapped in Basra was freed Wednesday, but a British journalist remained in captivity, police said.
Aqeel Khadhir was handed over to authorities at the hotel where he was seized in Basra, 275 miles south of Baghdad, Police Brig. Gen. Shamkhi Jassim said.
Journalists at the hotel saw police officers escort the Iraqi interpreter to headquarters.
The director of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr’s office in Basra said negotiations were continuing for the British journalist’s release.
Iraqi police and witnesses said the two were seized Sunday from the hotel. CBS News said Monday that two journalists working for it were missing in Basra, but it did not identify them.
Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, has seen fierce fighting between rival Shiite militias as part of a power struggle in the oil-rich south.
Kidnappings of Westerners and Iraqis, for political motives or ransom, had been common but have become infrequent recently with a decline in violence.
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