clari.world.mideast.iraq

*Associated Press/AP Online

BAGHDAD - A deal has been reached with kidnappers for the
release of two CBS journalists, radical Shiite cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr's office in Basra said Wednesday.
Harith al-Edhari, a director of al-Sadr's office in the
southern Iraqi city, said negotiations had persuaded the kidnappers
to release the British journalist and his Iraqi interpreter later
Wednesday.
"We reached an agreement with kidnappers to hand over
the Iraqi interpreter to the police command in Basra and the British
journalist will be handed over to al-Sadr's office in Basra this
afternoon," al-Edhari told The Associated Press. He did not
give a specific time.
Iraqi police and witnesses said the two were seized Sunday
from a hotel in Basra.
CBS News said Monday that two journalists working for it
were missing in Basra, but it did not identify them.
Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, has seen fierce fighting
between rival Shiite militias as part of a power struggle in the
oil-rich south.