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December 2, 2008 10:02:23 AM CST

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CBS Journalist to Be Freed 'Within Hours'

Posted Feb 13, 08 5:00 AM CST in World 

(Newser) – A kidnapped British journalist working for CBS and his translator are to be freed "within hours," according to the office of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Sadrists conducted negotiations with the kidnappers, who took the two hostage at gunpoint from a hotel in Basra, AFP reports. The captives have not been identified, but the journalist's wife said, "We are praying for him to be safe."

The kidnappers agreed to hand over the Iraqi interpreter to the police command in Basra and the journalist to al-Sadr's office, said a spokesman for the cleric. Basra, a province riven by turf wars between the Sadrists and a rival Shiite militia, was under British administration until mid-December, when it returned to Iraqi control.

Sources AFP, Times (UK)

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Iraqi policemen stand guard in front of the Sultan Palace Hotel in central Basra, Iraq, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008. The U.S. television network CBS reported Monday that two of its journalists had gone missing...   (Associated Press)
An Iraqi man cleans a poster showing Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, center, his father Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, left, and his uncle Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr in the center...   (Associated Press)
The radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ,gestures while delivering Friday sermon, in a Mosque, in Kufa, 160 kilometers, (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday Sept. 22, 2006.   (Associated Press)
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