US news agency AP says journalist missing in Iraq

NEW YORK, Aug 7 (Reuters) An Iraqi journalist working for the Associated Press has been missing for more than a week and witnesses and relatives say he has been kidnapped, the US news organization said today.

Talal Mohammed, 40, worked as both a journalist and photographer for the AP in Baqouba and had been traveling to Baghdad, 35 miles (56 km) southwest, when he disappeared on July 28, the agency said in a statement.

He was with a friend aboard a bus when both were kidnapped at an illegal checkpoint near Baqouba, relatives of Mohammed told the AP.

The relatives said the details of Mohammed's capture came from his friend who was later released.

''It was unclear whether Mohammed was seized because he worked for a Western news agency or for some other reason,'' the AP said.

''Five AP employees have died violently in the Iraq war, three of whom have been killed since December.'' ''The AP did not release information on the kidnapping earlier because it had been in touch with US military authorities in the region in the hope of finding Mohammed.'' Mohammed, who is married with children, has worked with the AP since fall 2006.

Data from the Committee to Protect Journalists shows that 112 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, 90 of which were Iraqi. Another 40 media support workers have also died in the same period.

REUTERS AE MSJ RAI2339