NAJAF, Iraq - The Baghdad correspondent of the Iranian government-run Al-Alam television station was assassinated in the western part of Baghdad, one of his colleagues said Tuesday.
Adil al-Mansuri, an Iraqi who was in his 20s, was driving his car after dropping his wife at her family's home in Amiriyah when gunmen stopped him Monday and shot him dead, said Aysar al-Yasiri, the network's correspondent in the southern city of Najaf.
The assailants then robbed al-Mansuri of his possessions, including a mobile phone and cash, as well as his ID and press card, al-Yasiri said.
The journalists' colleagues in Baghdad identified his body at the morgue Tuesday and informed his family. He was buried in the holy city of Najaf later in the day.
In the aftermath of spiraling sectarian violence in the capital, Al-Mansuri, a Shiite, had moved his wife and daughter from Baghdad after receiving threats because of his sect, al-Yasiri said. The wife was visiting from the Shiite-dominated city of Karbala the day of the attack.
It was the first such attack against a staffer of the Arabic-language Iranian satellite station, which is widely watched here.
Seventy-four journalists have been killed in Iraq since the war started in March 2003, including at least 53 Iraqis, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
