Iraq: Steven Vincent killed after accusing Basra police

db: Steven Vincent, author of In The Red Zone blog, was found murdered in the British controlled city of Basra police said today. He recently had an opinion piece published in the New York Times that was critical of the British military in Basra for standing by as the police force has become heavily infiltrated by members of Shiite religious groups and that according to a police lieutenant (who wished to remain anonymous) "a few police officers are perpetrating many of the hundreds of assassinations - mostly of former Baath Party members - that take place in Basra each month" . Chillingly, Vincent went on to say "he told me that there is even a sort of 'death car' - a white Toyota Mark II that glides through the city streets, carrying off-duty police officers in the pay of extremist religious groups to their next assignment".

This latest murder comes just a few weeks after publication of this - Sunni men in Baghdad targeted by attackers in police uniforms - one of the authors of the item, Yasser Salihee, was shot dead a few days later as reported here.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, as of June 28, at least 45 journalists and 20 media support workers have been killed while covering the war in Iraq since March 2003

Read Steven Vincent's NYT item (id:defbrain pass:exobrain) - Switched Off in Basra

Read Guardian report on his murder - American Journalist Found Dead in Iraq