Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Guardian journalist abducted in Baghdad

Once again, armed thugs in Iraq choose their enemies unwisely.

The Guardian's Iraq correspondent, Rory Carroll, was last night missing after being kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad. Carroll, 33, an experienced foreign correspondent, had been conducting an interview in the city with a victim of Saddam Hussein's regime. He had been preparing an article for today's paper on the opening of the former dictator's trial yesterday.

Carroll, who was accompanied by two drivers and a translator, was confronted by the gunmen as he left the house where he had been carrying out the interview. He and one of the drivers were bundled into cars. The driver was released about 20 minutes later.

Carroll has been in Iraq since January. He volunteered for the assignment and his coverage has been critical of the US-led coalition. Before Iraq, he had been the paper's correspondent in Africa, based in Johannesburg, since 2002. In the previous three years he had been based in Rome, where he covered the aftermath of the Kosovo war.

The Guardian issued statements in both English and Arabic, including an audio version in Arabic, following the incident.

Full article

This shouldn't happen to anybody. Here's hoping he gets out of this all right.

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