Two Iraqi ABC News journalists were killed Thursday in Iraq, ABC News President David Westin has said. Cameraman Alaa Uldeen Aziz, 33, and soundman Saif Laith Yousuf, 26, were returning home from work at the ABC News Baghdad bureau Thursday afternoon when their car was ambushed and they were killed by unknown assailants.
Aziz, Yousuf, and another colleague were on their way back home.The three men made it to their first destination and their colleague made it home safely. As they approached Aziz's home, a car pulled in front of them, blocking the way. Before Aziz and Yousuf could react, a second vehicle arrived and gunmen poured out, surrounding the journalists' car and ordering them onto the street, eyewitnesses told ABC.
Neighbours described a bold and violent confrontation where the gunmen were threatening witnesses while assaulting the two men. Aziz and Yousuf were taken away in separate vehicles.
ABC's Baghdad bureau learned about the kidnapping several hours later when a family member contacted the bureau to say neither man had arrived home. ABC employees tried calling Aziz's cellphone, which appeared to be off. When Yousuf's phone rang, however, an unidentified man answered. He did not reveal who he was or where the men had been taken, but said they would be sent home safely.
It was a promise that did not come true. Friday morning the families of Aziz and Yousuf identified both men in a city morgue. Aziz and Yousuf had been beaten and shot to death.
"They are really our eyes and ears in Iraq," ABC Baghdad correspondent Terry McCarthy said. "Many places in Baghdad are just too dangerous for foreigners to go now, so we have Iraqi camera crews who very bravely go out. Without them, we are blind. We cannot see what's going on. Today we've lost two family members. It really hurts."
Aziz is survived by his wife, his two daughters and his mother. Yousuf leaves behind his fiancee, his mother and brothers and sisters.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleagues and extend our sympathies to their family and friends,” Comittee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director Joel Simon said. “This senseless attack underscores why Iraq remains the most dangerous assignment in the world. No journalist is safe in covering this story, especially local Iraqi reporters who have suffered the brunt of media casualties.”
“In Iraq, armed groups murder journalists for no other reason than to prevent the circulation of news and information,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “These attacks take place in broad daylight with people looking on. Despite being careful whenever they go into the field, Iraqi journalists are never as vulnerable as when they are returning home at the end of the day without any protection.”
According to CPJ, 104 journalists, including Aziz and Yousuf, and 39 media support staffers have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003, making Iraq the deadliest conflict for the press in CPJ’s 26-year history. About four in five journalist deaths there have been Iraqis. According to RSF, 176 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since the start of the US-led invasion. Two others are missing and 12 are being held hostage.
