BAGHDAD: An Iraqi and his wife who both work as journalists for a prestigious Arabic language newspaper escaped assassination in Baghdad's mostly Shiite Karradah district, a media watchdog group said Saturday.
Abdul-Wahid Tuma and his wife, Sudad al-Salihi, who work for Al-Hayat were traveling by car Thursday when assailants in two vehicles fired at them, said Ibrahim al-Saraji, head of the Association to Protect Journalists' Rights.
"But they managed to maneuver and escaped unharmed," al-Saraji added.
Al-Hayat is published in London and is read throughout the Arab world.
The reason for the attack was unclear, but Iraqi journalists frequently receive threats from extremists because of their reporting or their affiliation with foreign organizations.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least says at least 123 journalists and 42 media support workers — translators, drivers, fixers and guards — have been killed in Iraq since 2003.
About 85 percent of those deaths were Iraqis, the group said.
In addition, 51 reporters have been confirmed kidnapped in Iraq since the war began. The majority — 34 — of those were released, 12 were killed and five are still being held, according to CPJ.
