Security worker shot dead in Basra

A former Gurkha working for a security company in the Iraqi city of Basra was shot dead in an ambush today.

The retired soldier had just delivered some mail to a United Nations building when three men attempted to slow the vehicle he was travelling in before firing three shots, a Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman said.

The man worked for Global Security, which is being used by the authority currently running Iraq.

He was taken back to the CPA building where he received medical treatment but died shortly afterwards, the spokesman added.