AP cameraman found dead in Iraq

BAGHDAD: A cameraman of the US-based Associated Press was found shot dead in the back of his head, six days after he was last seen by his family, the news agency said on Saturday.

Ahmed Hadi Naji, 28, was reported missing on December 30 when he did not return home that evening, the AP said, adding his body was found on Friday.

He had left his home in southwest Baghdad by motorcycle at 10:30 am (1300 IST) telling his wife he was going to the office.

"His body was found in a morgue," a statement on the AP website said.

"All of us at AP share the pain and grief being felt by Ahmed's family and friends," the statement quoted AP president Tom Curley as saying.

He leaves behind his wife Shaba'a Mudhar Khalil and four-month-old twins, a boy and girl.

Ahmed was the fourth AP staffer to die in Iraq since the 2003 invasion and the second in less than a month.

Another cameraman, Aswan Ahmed Lutfallah, was killed in the main northern city of Mosul on December 12.