Who killed Steven Vincent?

Those responsible for murdering US freelance journalist Steven Vincent on 2 August in Basra have yet to be identified and several hypotheses are possible. Vincent was an avowed supporter of the US intervention in Iraq and was very critical of the growing influence of religious extremists. Quoting an Iraqi officer in his last article, published in the New York Times on 31 July 2005, he said 75 per cent of the Basra policemen supported radical Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, and he condemned the failure of the British soldiers to do anything about it. The police obey just two masters, the state and the mosque, he said. No organisation has yet claimed his murder, and this could be taken as a sign that Sunni rebels did not do it, as they usually claim responsibility when they kill foreigners. An eye-witness living on Al-Istiqlal street, where Vincent's body was found, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that "a white pickup pulled up alongside Vincent and his interpreter, Noor El-Khal, then four gunmen got out, grabbed them and bundled them into the pickup." They learned five hours later that his body had been found. The US embassy in Baghdad said it was working with the Iraqi authorities and the British troops in the south of the country to do everything possible to find out who was responsible for Vincent's murder. Aged 50, Vincent wrote for US newspapers including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Christian Science Monitor. A book he wrote about the Iraqi war, entitled In the Red Zone, was recently published. He had spent the past several months in Basra gathering material for a book about the history of the city and he had taken to dressing as a Shiite in order to pass unnoticed. The day of his murder he was wearing a black T-shirt with a picture of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Imam Ali, and black prayer-beads around his neck - the distinctive mark of Shiite. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 04.08.2005 Dismay at a murder of US freelance journalist Steven Vincent in Basra Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage today at the murder of American freelance journalist Steven Vincent, who was abducted and shot dead yesterday in the southern city of Basra, and it urged the Iraqi authorities as well as the British and US military forces to carry out a thorough investigation. The organisation also paid homage to Steven, describing him as a courageous reporter and writer who had never hesitated to go to difficult places such as Iraq in order to cover the life of their inhabitants. "This murder once again shows that journalists pay a very high price to report in Iraq," Reporters Without Borders said. "It is absolutely appalling that armed groups use this kind of barbaric violence against people whose job is just to observe and report, and who just carry a notebook and pen." Vincent wrote for US newspapers including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Christian Science Monitor. A book he wrote about the Iraqi war, entitled In the Red Zone, was recently published. He had spent the past several months in Basra gathering material for a book about the history of the city. His Iraqi interpreter and guide was found with two bullet wounds in the same street as Vincent's body. She was hospitalised in a serious condition. Vincent's death brings to 64 the number of journalists and media assistants killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003. He is the 14th foreign journalist to have been killed there during his period. His execution-style death comes almost a year after Italian reporter Enzo Baldoni was kidnapped and killed by insurgents on 27 August 2004.