GUNMEN killed an Iraqi journalist and his four-year-old son in Basra yesterday as insurgents continued their campaign of murder, kidnap and intimidation directed at anyone suspected of working with US-led troops.

Abdul-Hussein Khazal al-Basri, a correspondent with the US-funded al-Hurra Arabic television channel, was shot dead by three men with machineguns outside his home, police said in the mainly Shia southern city. His driver was also killed.

Al-Hurra (“The Free”) is a target for anti-US groups because it was set up by Washington as an Arabic alternative to al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya, which the Bush Administration accuses of anti-American bias. Its critics, in turn, accuse the Virginia-based channel of broadcasting propaganda.

The precise motive for the killings is unclear. Mr al-Basri was also an official of the Islamic Dawa Party, one of the leading parties within the Shia coalition backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in addition to being the editor of a local newspaper and the head of the press office at Basra City Council. Police said that a director in the Ministry of Culture and Housing had also been killed and that a senior Interior Ministry official had been kidnapped.

Iraqi election officials announced a delay in releasing the results of the January 30 election to recheck suspicious ballot boxes. The independent electoral commission said that it is in the final stage of tallying votes and will soon announce the outcome.

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