Former Times Interpreter Killed in Afghanistan --- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Noor Ahmad Noori, an Afghan interpreter who formerly worked for The New York Times in Afghanistan, was found beaten and stabbed to death, wrapped in a sack and dumped on a roadside late Thursday outside Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, where he lived, government officials and family members reported. -- The relatives said Mr. Noori, 29, a well-known local journalist who was engaged to be married, had been abducted by armed men earlier on Thursday and had been missing for nine hours. -- There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing, and it was unclear whether it was a criminal or personal matter, or possibly connected to the Taliban insurgency. -- A spokesman for the governor of Helmand Province, Omar Zwak, said Friday that the police had found the body north of Lashkar Gah, and that he had been “beaten severely until he died.” -- Mr. Noori’s elder brother, Rasiullah, said he also had multiple stab wounds on his head and body and might have suffocated.--- Mr. Noori first went to work for The Times in 2010. He left by mutual agreement early last fall. Mr. Noori also worked for Bost, a local Helmand radio broadcaster. -- He was well known to many people in the local government as well as to the civilians working with the United States military mission there. Mr. Noori had worked with a number of different news organizations in Helmand and spoke some English. - More, NYTimes, at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/25/world/asia/former-times-translator-killed-in-afghanistan.html?hp&_r=0