Baghdad - Unidentified gunmen murdered 11 family members of an Iraqi journalist in east Baghdad, independent Voices of Iraq reported Monday citing a statement by the Iraqi committee to protect journalists. About seven armed men in a civilian car broke into the house of Diyaa al-Wakaz Sunday, shooting dead all his family members including his wife and children, witnesses said.
Al-Wakaz, who currently lives in Jordan, is the editor of Iraq News Network, a news website which releases its news from the Jordanian capital Amman.
There was no immediate information why al-Wakaz' family was targeted for the murders.
Journalists and their families are among the most targeted people by militias in Iraq.
According to the Iraqi Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO), 218 Iraqi and foreign reporters operating in Iraq have been killed since 2003, while 14 others are missing.
