Kidnapped Iraqi Translator Found Dead

Despite the fact that his family paid a ransom, the translator was killed (RFE/RL) 12 January 2006 -- An Iraqi working as a translator for the U.S. forces in the north of the country was found murdered today two weeks after he had been kidnapped.

Police and the U.S. military said the body of the translator, who had been shot, was found south of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk after his family had paid kidnappers a $10,000 ransom in a bid to win his release.

A U.S. military spokesman said the dead man had worked as a translator for U.S. forces in the Baiji area, 200 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad.

Meanwhile, police said two unidentified bodies of men who had been shot dead were found in the southern town of Al-Nasiriyah.

(AFP)