Iraq forces free kidnapped British journalist
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraqi security forces freed a British journalist kidnapped two months ago in the main southern city of Basra after a fierce firefight with his abductors, a defence ministry official said Monday.
The journalist, Richard Butler, was shown on state television soon after his release surrounded by Iraqi military officials who hugged him and gave him a round of applause before sitting down with him to share a meal.
Wearing a T-shirt, the tousle-haired Butler, who had been on assignment with US television network CBS when he was abducted along with his Iraqi translator on February 10, praised the soldiers who had freed him.
"The Iraqi army stormed the house and overcame my guards. I had on the hood that I always was made to wear," he said, adding that when he removed the hood he had found the room full of soldiers.
Looking healthy and relaxed, Butler added: "I am looking forward to seeing my family and my friends at CBS."
Defence ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari said on state television that troops from the army's Fourteenth Division raided Basra's Jubaiyia neighbourhood earlier Monday.
The action was part of extensive operations against Shiite militiamen in Basra by the Iraqi forces launched on March 25 under orders from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
"There was some indication that there was a target there, but we didn't know it was the British journalist," Askari said.
"Our forces advanced towards a house and were confronted by heavy fire from four gunmen. The fight lasted for 30 minutes. One of them was arrested but the three others fled. One was wounded.
"When we entered the house, we found the British journalist. He is in good health. We have handed him over to a British general."
Defence Minister Abdel Qader Mohammed Jassim praised the Iraqi forces.
"We were looking for weapons and outlaws and ... the operation led us to this hostage who had been held for a long time in a house," he said.
"The operation had a wonderful result."
Butler and his Iraqi interpreter, whose names have not been officially released, were kidnapped from Basra's Palace Sultan hotel by 10 armed and masked men.
The Basra office of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr struck a deal with the kidnappers who released the interpreter three days after the abductions but the efforts by the Sadrists to free the Briton came unstuck for unspecified reasons.
Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said that last year 25 journalists and media assistants were kidnapped in Iraq and that a total of 208 have been killed in connection with their work since the start of the US-led invasion of 2003.
Britain's Press Association said the kidnapped Briton had covered the fall of Baghdad in 2003 and worked for titles including the Sunday Telegraph, the New York Times and the Financial Times.
