An Iraqi sports reporter, Alaa Abdel Wahab, was killed in the northern city of Mosul on Sunday by a car bomb that injured another journalist. Two journalists employed by Al-Iraqiya TV were also injured in a separate car bombing in Baghdad, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported.
“We are saddened and appalled by these two bombings,” RSF said. “It is time the slaughter of journalists in Iraq was stopped. The Iraqi authorities created a special police unit last year to investigate murders of journalists. We urge them to investigate these two bombings very thoroughly. Only conclusive results are likely to discourage these killers and improve the safety of journalists.”
A renowned print media journalist and reporter for Al-Baghdadia TV, Wahab was killed in Mosul’s Al-Shurta neighbourhood by a bomb that had been placed underneath his car. A local police official said Dr Sultan Jurjis, a university academic and presenter on a rival TV station, was injured by the blast.
A limpet bomb attached to the vehicle of an Al-Iraqiya TV crew that was preparing a report in the west Baghdad neighbourhood of Azamiyah exploded at about 8 p.m. on Sunday, injuring a cameraman and a technician. Al-Iraqiya said one of them was in a serious condition.
Ranked 158th out of 173 countries in the 2008 RSF press freedom index, Iraq continues to be one of the world’s deadliest countries for journalists.
