BAGHDAD, Jan 6: The body of an Associated Press employee was found shot in the back of the head on Friday, six days after he was last seen by his family leaving for work.

Ahmed Hadi Naji, 28, was the fourth AP staffer to die violently in the Iraq war and the second AP employee killed in less than a month. He had been a messenger and occasional cameraman for the AP for 2 1/2 years.

The circumstances of Naji's death were unclear.

Naji's wife, Sahba'a Mudhar Khalil, reported him missing on Dec 30 when he did not return that evening.—AP