Militants Eyed In Journalist Death

A New York freelance journalist killed earlier this month in southern Iraq probably was shot by Islamic militants, a senior British official said.

The official said he did not believe Iraqi police were involved in Steven Vincent's death but acknowledged that the journalist's articles criticizing the local force had made him unpopular.

In a recent New York Times column and his Internet blog, Vincent accused police in the southern city of Basra of being infiltrated by Shiite militiamen. British forces in Iraq are based in Basra and responsible for the city's security.

The journalist and his female Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint on Aug. 2. His body was discovered that night on the side of the highway south of Basra. The translator, Nour Weidi, was seriously wounded.

"It is almost certainly, and this is a personal opinion, a group of Islamists," the British official said. The official was briefing reporters on condition of anonymity because British policy prohibits senior officials from being quoted by name.

"It has emerged that it was not Steven Vincent's article that actually upset people, although I have to say he was very critical of the Iraqi police, so I am sure his article did not win him any friends," the official said.

One line of inquiry being pursued by Iraqi police is that Vincent was shot because of his association with the female interpreter. Basra has fallen under the control of hardline Islamists who frown on any contact between men and women except within families.

In an opinion column published July 31 in the Times, Vincent wrote that Basra's police force had been heavily infiltrated by members of Shiite political groups, including those loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Vincent quoted an unidentified Iraqi police lieutenant as saying that some police were behind many of the assassinations of former Baath Party members that have taken place in Basra.

"He told me that there is even a sort of 'death car' — a white Toyota Mark II that glides through the city streets, carrying off-duty police officers in the pay of extremist religious groups to their next assignment," he wrote.

Vincent also was critical of the British military for turning a blind eye to abuses of power by Shiite extremists in Basra.

The British official said he did not believe Iraqi officers were complicit in the killing and said the translator's life had probably been saved by local police.

"When they were released, they were told to run away basically, and then they were shot in the back as they were running away. They were actually picked up by a police unit and that probably saved the Iraqi interpreter's life," he said.

The official said the British consular general in Basra had warned Vincent, as it warns all journalists working in the region, that he should take adequate security measures.