Iraqi police- American journalist kidnapped in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunmen kidnapped a female American journalist and killed her Iraqi translator Saturday in western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said.

Maj. Falah Mohamadawi said the translator told police before he died that the abduction took place when he and the journalist were heading to meet Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front, in the Adel section of the city.

The neighborhood is dominated by Sunni Arabs and considered one of toughest in Baghdad.

According to Samir Najim, a guard at al-Dulaimi's office, three armed men in a red Opel four-sedan intercepted the journalist's car and shot the translator before taking her in their car and driving away. The kidnapping took place about 100 yards from al-Dulaimi's office.

Insurgents have kidnapped more than 250 foreigners in the past two years, aiming to force U.S.-led troops to leave Iraq or prevent Arab nations from strengthening their ties with the Baghdad government.

A total of 76 journalists and media staff have been killed in Iraq since March 2003, the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday.

That was more than the 63 reporters killed in the 1955 to 1977 conflict in Vietnam, the group said.

, citing figures from U.S.-based press advocacy group Freedom Forum.