Iraqi TV reporter kidnapped in central Baghdad, TV station says

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
An Iraqi television reporter was kidnapped on his way to work in central Baghdad, his station said Saturday. Mutadhar al-Zaidi, a 28-year-old reporter for the Iraqi satellite channel Al-Baghdadiyah, disappeared Friday, according to an editor at the channel who spoke on condition of anonymity because of safety concerns. A colleague phoned al-Zaidi around noon Friday, and a stranger answered his cell phone. "Forget Muntadhr," the stranger said, according to the editor. "This is the act of gangs, because all of Muntadhar's reports are moderate and unbiased," the editor told The Associated Press in a phone interview. Al-Baghdadiyah TV broadcasts from Cairo, Egypt, and is often critical of the Iraqi government and the US military presence here. The station has already lost two reporters in attacks against media in Iraq. The most recent was in September, when gunmen killed another correspondent, Jawad Saadoun al-Daami, in western Baghdad.