Iraqi journalist reportedly taken prisoner

An Iraqi journalist working for The Associated Press has been missing for more than a week, and relatives and a witness say he was taken prisoner by masked gunmen while travelling to Baghdad.

Talal Mohammed, who contributed both news and photos to the AP, disappeared as he travelled from Baqouba, where he worked, to the Iraqi capital 35 miles to the south-west, according to members of his family.

He went missing on July 28 and had not been heard from since.

Mohammed, 40, was with a neighbourhood friend aboard a bus when both were kidnapped at an illegal checkpoint not far from Baqouba in a region that is a stronghold of Sunni Muslim fighters allied with al Qaida in Iraq, said the relatives, who asked not to be identified for their own safety.

They said they got the information from Mohammed’s travelling companion who was later released and also asked that his name not be used.

It was unclear whether Mohammed was seized because he worked for a Western news agency or for some other reason.

Iraqi journalists working for local or international media frequently come under threats from insurgents because of their reporting, and more than 70 such journalists have been murdered since the war began in 2003, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York.