Body of kidnapped Iraqi reporter found in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, June 17 (Reuters) The body of a senior Iraqi journalist kidnapped last week in Baghdad has been found, his newspaper said today.

Filaih Wadi Mijthab, managing editor of the state-run al-Sabah daily newspaper, was abducted on Wednesday while driving in east Baghdad.

His body was found beside a mosque near Sadr City, a sprawling Shi'ite slum in northeast Baghdad, and it appeared that he had been killed on Thursday, a newspaper employee said.

The media has been consistently targeted in Iraq's bloody sectarian conflict, making it the most dangerous place in the world for journalists.

Mijthab's killing takes to 28 the number of journalists who have died so far this year while doing their jobs in Iraq, according to a count by Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

It estimates that 184 reporters and media assistants have been killed since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

REUTERS SW BD1501