MEDIA SUPPORT WORKERS KILLED ON DUTY: 50
The war in Iraq illustrates the dangers faced by people who work with journalists in supporting roles—as drivers, interpreters, fixers and guards. Here is a statistical look at media support workers killed in Iraq since the start of the conflict in March 2003. The analysis is followed by capsule reports detailing each death.
Capsule reports on media workers killed:
• for 2008
• for 2007• for 2006
• for 2005
• for 2004
• for 2003
By Year:
• 2008: 1
• 2007: 12
• 2006: 15
• 2005: 3
• 2004: 17
• 2003: 2
By Nationality:
• Iraqi: 49
• Other (Lebanese): 1
By Gender:
• Men: 49
• Women: 1
By Circumstance:
• Murder: 42
• Crossfire or other acts of war: 8
Responsibility:
• Insurgent action: 43 (Includes crossfire, suicide bombings, and murders.)
• U.S. fire: 6 (Includes crossfire.)
• Source unconfirmed: 1
By Job:
• Security guard: 18
• Driver: 14
• Interpreter/translator: 6
• Technical support staff: 6
• Kitchen staff: 2
• Other: 4
By Location:
• Nineveh province (Mosul): 4
• Baghdad province: 34
• Saleheddin province: 2
• At-Tamim province (Kirkuk): 5
• Basrah province: 1
• Diyala province (Baaqubah): 2
• Najaf province: 1
• Al-Muthanna province (Al-Samawah): 1
Type of news organization:
• Working for international news organization: 18
• Working for Iraqi news organization: 32
Highest death tolls among news organizations:
• Iraq Media Network (includes Al-Iraqiya, its affiliates, and Sabah newspaper): 13
• Al-Shaabiya: 6
• Al-Arabiya: 5
Media support workers killed in 2008: 1
Alaa Aasi, Al-Forat
January 29, 2008, Balad, Saleheddin province
Aasi, a driver for the satellite channel Al-Forat, and Alaa Abdul-Karim al-Fartoosi, a cameraman for the channel, were killed by a roadside bomb as they entered the town of Balad, approximately 50 miles north of Baghdad, at around 6:15 p.m., according to the director of external relations for the channel, Mihssen Mohammad Hussein.
The driver and cameraman were traveling along with correspondent Fatima al-Hassani and camera assistant Haidar Kathem when the device struck their car. The crew had just passed a second makeshift checkpoint to enter the town when the bomb exploded. Al-Hassani sustained broken bones in her legs and fractures to her knees and was being treated at a Baghdad hospital, Hussein told CPJ. Kathem sustained light injuries, he said.
Hussein said the crew was on assignment filming a documentary to commemorate the two-year anniversary of the bombing of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, one of the holiest shrines for Shiites. The report intended to cover the political, security, and social life in Samarra since the attack.
Abbas al-Issawi, director-general of Al-Forat, told CPJ it was not clear whether the crew was deliberately targeted. Hussein said the channel was not aware of any official investigation of the incident.
The satellite channel, established in 2004, is backed by the powerful Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a Shiite political party led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.
Media support workers killed in 2007: 12
Nabras Mohammed Hadi, Iraq Media Network, February 7, 2007, Baghdad
Azhar Abdullah al-Maliki, Iraq Media Network, February 7, 2007, Baghdad
Sabah Salman (Abu Sajad), Iraq Media Network, February 7, 2007, Baghdad
Three guards working for the state-run Iraq Media Network were killed by guards employed by Blackwater Worldwide, a U.S. private security firm, The Washington Post reported.
Blackwater guards escorting an American diplomat to the Iraqi Justice Ministry took positions on the roof of the building, according to The Post. The state-run Iraq Media Network compound, guarded by an Iraqi security team, was adjacent to the ministry at a distance of about 450 feet. An argument ensued between the Iraqi guards and some civilians who wanted to park a car between the ministry and the media compound, The Post said. When Nabras Mohammed Hadi, 23, a guard stationed on a balcony in the compound, stood up with his weapon and shouted at the people on the ground, he was shot by a Blackwater sniper, the paper reported.
When colleagues tried to retrieve Hadi from the balcony, the sniper shot another guard, Azhar Abdullah al-Maliki, 31, in the neck, forcing the others to retreat, the paper reported. An Iraqi army unit in charge of the area responded to the scene and withdrew the bodies of both guards. Hadi died at the scene, while al-Maliki succumbed to his wounds a few hours later at a nearby hospital. Guards discovered Sabah Salman, 40, charged with maintaining small arms, lying dead on the same balcony more than an hour after the sniper had fired his first shot, The Post said.
Guards from both the Iraq Media Network and the Justice Ministry along with the Iraqi army commander and several network officials said the slain guards did not fire their weapons or provoke the shooting. The Justice Ministry, the Interior Ministry, Iraqi police, and the Iraq Media Network found Blackwater responsible for the incident, the paper reported.
The security firm denied initiating the shooting, saying its employees returned fire after coming under threat
Hussein Nizar, Baghdad TV, April 6, 2007, Baghdad
A garbage truck packed with explosives detonated near the main entrance of Baghdad TV’s offices on April 5, killing Deputy Director Thaer Ahmad Jaber and guard Hussein Nizar, who died from his injuries the following day. Eleven other employees were injured in the attack, according to CPJ sources.
The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, an Iraqi press freedom organization, reported that the attackers fired at the station’s guards, clearing the way for the truck. The front of the building, which houses the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party-owned Baghdad TV and Radio Dar al-Salam, was destroyed along with several station and employee cars, according to news reports. The station’s main transmission equipment was damaged, briefly interrupting its broadcast.
Adel al-Badri, Radio Dijla, May 3, 2007, Baghdad
Dozens of heavily armed gunmen stormed the independent Radio Dijla station in Baghdad’s Al-Jamia district, killing guard Adel al-Badri and injuring two other guards, Karim Yousef, acting director-general, told CPJ.
Around 2:30 p.m., dozens of masked gunmen attacked Radio Dijla with missiles and heavy machine guns, destroying equipment, and knocking the station off the air, Yousef said. The gunmen seized the first floor of the two-story building, causing Radio Dijla’s 25 employees to flee to the second floor and fight off the attack, he said.
The assailants set off an explosive on the first floor, destroying the station’s broadcast equipment, Yousef said. The gunmen fled shortly before Iraqi security forces arrived. Yousef told CPJ he called the security forces 10 minutes into the attack; his staff, he said, fought the gunmen for more than 30 minutes before they were rescued. The damage, Yousef said, was so extensive that the station could not immediately return to the air.
Radio Dijla is considered an independent news outlet. “We don’t belong to ... any political or sectarian sides and we accept all Iraqi voices,” Yousef said. “We asked the government several times to protect the road, to protect the station, but unfortunately to no avail.”
Imad Abdul-Razzaq al-Obaid, Al-Raad, May 9, 2007, outside Kirkuk
Gunmen riding in an Opel without a license plate intercepted a vehicle carrying Raad -Mutashar, 43, owner and director of a media company, and driver Imad Abdul-Razzaq al-Obaid on a road southwest of Kirkuk at around 2 p.m., a company source told CPJ. The source said the gunmen killed Mutashar and al-Obaid, along with passengers Nibras Abdul-Razzaq al-Obaid and Aqil Abdul-Qadir.
Mutashar’s company, Al-Raad, published a weekly newspaper Al-Iraq Ghadan, and a related institute operated a news agency and a media educational center. A CPJ source said Mutashar was a prominent writer, poet, and journalist who started the company four years ago. Imad Abdul-Razzaq al-Obaid and Nibras Abdul-Razzaq al-Obaid were Mutashar’s brothers-in-law.
Watan Rozouk al-Hassani, Al-Samawah, July 6, 2007, Al-Samawah
Gunmen shot Ali Watan Rozouk al-Hassani, an administrative assistant and security guard for the local television station Al-Samawah, during violent clashes in Al-Samawah, capital of southern Al-Muthanna province, according to the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, a local press freedom organization. Al-Hassani was driving to work when he was shot in the head.
Al-Samawah’s building had been subjected to heavy shelling that had interrupted its broadcasts, station chief Saeed al-Badri told the observatory. Al-Hassani had cut a vacation short to help the station get back on the air, al-Badri said. A police spokesman told the observatory that the shooting took place about 330 feet (100 meters) from the television station.
Saeed Chmagh, Reuters, July 12, 2007, Baghdad
Driver and camera assistant Chmagh was killed along with photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen in eastern Baghdad during what witnesses described as a U.S. helicopter attack. The strike claimed the lives of 10 other Iraqis in the Al-Amin al-Thaniyah neighborhood, Reuters reported, citing a preliminary Iraqi police report.
Witnesses told Reuters that Noor-Eldeen and Chmagh arrived in the neighborhood about the time a U.S. helicopter fired on a minivan. Video footage showed that the minivan was destroyed, Reuters reported. Initial reports suggested that the air strike took place during clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents, but witnesses later said there were no clashes, according to Reuters.
The Multi-National Force-Iraq press desk in Baghdad did not respond to CPJ’s telephone and e-mail inquiries seeking comment. Four other Reuters employees have been killed on assignment in Iraq, the largest loss suffered by an international news organization in the conflict, CPJ research shows.
Abdullah [full name unavailable], freelance, October 22, 2007, Baghdad
Unidentified kidnappers killed the driver for Radio Free Iraq correspondent Jumana al-Obaidi when they seized the reporter on her way to a scheduled assignment at the Iraqi Environment Ministry on October 22. The radio service, which said the driver was hired directly by the reporter, identified the victim only as Abdullah.
Al-Obaidi worked for Radio Free Iraq, the Arabic language service of RFE/RL, which broadcasts to Iraq from RFE/RL headquarters in Prague.
The radio service said Iraqi police found the driver’s body in Baghdad’s Al-Shaab neighborhood shortly after the abduction. The radio service said he was in his late 20s and was survived by a wife.
RFE/RL reported that the journalist was freed on November 4. It did not reveal details as to what led to her release or the identity of her captors.
Ziad Tarek al-Dibo, Al-Watan, October 14, 2007, southwest of Kirkuk
Jassem Mohammad Nofan, Al-Watan, October 14, 2007, southwest of Kirkuk
Khaled Mohammad Nofan, Al-Watan, October 14, 2007, southwest of Kirkuk
Gunmen ambushed five guards for the Tikrit-based weekly Al-Watan on the road between Kirkuk and Al-Riyadh in Iraq’s northern At-Tamim province on the evening of October 14, according to CPJ sources and news reports. A local journalist identified the three slain guards as Ziad Tarek al-Dibo, Jassem Mohammad Nofan, and Khaled Mohammad Nofan, and the two injured as Alal al-Ghariri and Mohammad Shaker al-Samraee.
Al-Watan’s deputy chief editor, Waqas al-Dowaini, told the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, a local press freedom organization, that the guards were returning to Tikrit, northwest of Baghdad, after escorting the paper’s chairman, Hatem Mawloud Mokhles, to Arbil province when the gunmen attacked near Houd 18 village, southwest of Kirkuk. Al-Dowaini told the observatory that the victims were employed as guards for the paper and as personal guards for Mokhles, secretary-general of the Iraqi National Movement political party. .
Media support workers killed in 2006: 15
Anis Qassem, Atyaf (Iraqi Media Network), October 29, 2006, Baghdad
Unidentified gunmen killed Qassem, a driver for the Iraqi state television channel Atyaf, and presenter Naqshin Hamma Rashid as the two were driving to work near Haifa Street in central Baghdad, according to CPJ sources.
Atyaf is the second channel of the Iraqi Media Network and broadcasts in several languages, including Kurdish and English, according to CPJ sources. Colleagues at Al-Iraqiya, the main state television channel, said the murders were part of the continued targeting of employees of the Iraqi Media Network.
Ali Hlayel, Atyaf (Iraqi Media Network), October 13, 2006, Baghdad
Hlayel, a security guard for Atyaf, was gunned down by unidentified assailants in Baghdad’s northwestern neighborhood of Hurriya shortly after leaving his home to go to work.
Atyaf is the second channel of the Iraqi Media Network and broadcasts in several languages, including Kurdish and English, according to CPJ sources. Colleagues at Al-Iraqiya, the main state television channel, said the murder was part of the continued targeting of employees of the Iraqi Media Network.
Sami Nasrallah al-Shimari, Al-Shaabiya, October 12, 2006, Baghdad
Ali Jabber, Al-Shaabiya, October 12, 2006, Baghdad
Maher, Al-Shaabiya, October 12, 2006, Baghdad
Ahmad, Al-Shaabiya, October 12, 2006, Baghdad
Hassan, Al-Shaabiya, October 12, 2006, Baghdad
Unidentified, Al-Shaabiya, October 12, 2006, Baghdad
Masked gunmen in at least five vehicles drove up to the fledgling satellite TV channel Al-Shaabiya in the eastern district of Zayouna around 7 a.m., burst into the offices and executed 11 people in cold blood and wounded two. It was the deadliest single assault on the press in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
Al-Shaabiya is owned by the National Justice and Progress Party, headed by Abdul-Rahim Nasrallah al-Shimari who was killed in the attack, according to Reuters and CPJ sources. The small party ran in the last election but failed to win any seats. Al-Shaabiya had not yet gone on the air and had only run test transmissions. Executive manager Hassan Kamil told Reuters that the station had no political agenda and that the staff had been a mix of Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. The station had not been threatened previously. According to news reports, the channel still aims to launch after the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan in late October.
Kamil said some of the gunmen wore police uniforms, and all were masked. According to news reports the gunmen’s cars resembled police vehicles.
A local press freedom group, The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, named the dead as chairman and general manager Abdul-Rahim Nasrallah al-Shimari and his bodyguard, Ali Jabber; deputy general manager Noufel al-Shimari; presenters Thaker al-Shouwili and Ahmad Sha’ban; administrative manager Sami Nasrallah al-Shimari; video mixer Hussein Ali; and three guards identified only by their first names: Maher, Ahmad and Hassan. The station’s generator operator, whose name was not available, was also killed. A source at Al-Shaabiya confirmed the names.
Program manager Mushtak al-Ma’mouri and news chief Muhammad Kathem were taken to the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. They were in critical condition, according to CPJ sources.
Jassem Hamad Ibrahim, Al-Iraqiya, October 4, 2006, Mosul
Ibrahim, a driver for the Iraqi state television channel Al-Iraqiya, was shot by unidentified gunmen in Mosul. The assailants ambushed Ibrahim at about 2 p.m. as he was running errands for the station, according to a source at Nineveh TV, the local affiliate of Al-Iraqiya. His body was found riddled with bullets, according to the source and news reports.
Earlier that day, the source said, Ibrahim had driven several camera
operators around Mosul to film footage. The slaying occurred about 30
minutes after Ibrahim dropped off the camera operators at the station.
They later reported that they believed they had been followed during the
assignment, the source said.
Unidentified, Al-Sabah, August 27, 2006, Baghdad
A guard employed by the state-run daily newspaper Al-Sabah was
killed when an explosive-packed car detonated in the building’s
garage at about 8:30 a.m. The blast killed another, unidentified person,
injured 20 others, and caused severe damage to the newspaper building
in Baghdad’s northern Waziriya district, Al-Sabah sources
told CPJ.
CPJ sources said at least 25 cars belonging to the paper were destroyed;
Reuters reported that two cars were blown though one wall of the paper’s
building. The newspaper’s production department and the offices
of Shabaqeh magazine, an Al-Sabah publication housed in
the same building, were extensively damaged, according to CPJ sources.
Insurgents have frequently targeted Al-Sabah and other state-run
media because of their ties to the U.S.-supported Iraqi government. Insurgents
have killed at least 16 state media employees since 2004, and the offices
of Al-Sabah and other state-run media outlets have repeatedly come
under attack.
Muazaz Ahmed Barood, Al-Nahrain
May 8, 2006
Barood, a telephone operator for the privately owned TV station Al-Nahrain,
and Laith Al-Dulaimi, a reporter for the station, were kidnapped by men
disguised as police officers at Diyala Bridge while driving home to Mada’in,
a town 12 miles (19 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Abdulkarim al-Mehdawi,
the station’s general manager told CPJ.
Their bodies were discovered at al-Wihda district, 20 miles (32 kilometers)
south of Baghdad. Both men, in their late 20s, were shot in the chest,
al-Mehdawi told CPJ.
Barood worked at the station since it was established just over a year
and a half ago. Al-Dulaimi became a reporter for Al-Nahrain four months
ago. The motive behind the murders is unclear. Al-Mehdawi told CPJ that
neither the station nor the journalists had ever received threats.
Isma’il Muhammad Khalaf, Al-Sabah, May 7, 2006, Baghdad
Khalaf, 54, a printing technician for the government daily Al-Sabah,
was killed when a car packed with explosives blew up the back side of
the paper’s main offices at about 9 a.m., one of the busiest times
at the paper, Al-Sabah reported.
At least 25 employees at the paper suffered injuries from flying glass
and debris. Thirteen were treated at the scene; the others were taken
to a local hospital. The employees went back to work that day and the
paper published its issue on time.
Insurgents have frequently targeted Al-Sabah and its journalists
because of the paper’s ties to the U.S.–supported Iraqi government.
Insurgents have killed at least 15 other employees of the paper and its
affiliates since 2004, and the offices of the paper and its affiliates
have repeatedly come under mortar attack.
Anwar Turki, Al-Iraqiya, March 11, 2006, Baghdad
Turki was driving Amjad Hameed, the head of Iraq's state television channel
Al-Iraqiya, when their car was ambushed in central Baghdad by gunmen apparently
affiliated to Al-Qaeda. Hameed was hit in the head and chest and died
instantly. Turki died later in the hospital.
Al-Iraqiya, which receives funding from the U.S. government, has frequently
been the target of insurgent attacks. CPJ has documented the killing of
at least six journalists and five media workers from the station and its
affiliates since 2004.
Mohammad Siddik, Freelance/Voice of America, February 17, 2006, Baghdad
Siddik, a driver and security guard who worked part time with the Voice
of America, was shot and killed by an unknown assailant near his home
in the Doura section of Baghdad. The attack took place shortly after Siddik
dropped a VOA correspondent at Baghdad airport. The assailant approached
Siddik and shot him in the head and torso while Siddik waited in line
to buy cooking oil at a shop near his home.
Allan Enwiyah, freelance/The Christian Science Monitor, January
7, 2006. Baghdad
Enwiyah, an interpreter for American freelancer reporter Jill Carroll,
was killed after he and Carroll were seized by unidentified gunmen in
the Adil neighborhood of western Baghdad. Both were on assignment for
The Christian Science Monitor.
Enwiyah's body was later found in the same neighborhood with two bullets
to the head, the Boston-based daily said, citing law enforcement officials.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abductions and
killing.
The kidnappings and killing occurred after Carroll was leaving the office
of Adnan al-Dulaimi, a prominent Sunni politician, the Monitor reported.
Carroll had intended to interview Al-Dulaimi, who was not available. The
gunmen intercepted Carroll's car as it left the office, commandeered the
vehicle with Carroll and Enwiyah inside, and sped away.
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Media support workers killed in Iraq
in 2005: 3
Unidentified driver, Al-Hurra, February 25, 2005, Iskandiriyah
A driver working for Mohammad Sherif Ali, an Iraqi journalist working for Al-Hurra, a U.S.-funded Arabic television station, was killed when gunmen attacked their car in Iskandiriyah, a town about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Baghdad. Ali was seriously injured in the attack.
Laiq Ibrahim Nowruz al-Kakaie, Kurdistan TV, March 10, 2005, Kirkuk
Al-Kakaie, 43, director of administration for the Kirkuk office of Kurdistan TV, a station affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), was shot and killed by armed assailants as he was driving to work, according to colleagues and a KDP media official.
The shooting took place in the Hay al-Askari neighborhood of Kirkuk, where al-Kakaie lived, at around 8:30 in the morning, the sources said. Al-Kakaie died instantly. His driver, who was wounded in the attack, survived his injuries.
Ahlam Youssef, Al-Iraqiya September 21, 2005, Mosul
Youssef, an engineer working for Al-Iraqiya television in Mosul, was shot to death while driving in Mosul. Her husband was killed, and their son was seriously wounded in the attack, Samer al-Obeidi, editor-in-chief of al-Iraqiya in Baghdad, told CPJ.
Al-Iraqiya has been increasingly targeted because of its ties to the U.S.-supported Iraqi government. Insurgents in Mosul have killed at least three other employees of the station and its affiliates in 2005, and Al-Iraqiya offices have repeatedly come under mortar attack.
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Media support workers killed in Iraq in 2004: 17
Yasser Khatab, CNN, January 27, 2004, outside Baghdad
Khatab, a driver for the U.S. cable news network CNN, was killed in an ambush in the outskirts of Baghdad, CNN reported. CNN producer Duraid Isa Mohammed was also killed in the attack.
The network said Khatab and Mohammed died of multiple gunshot wounds after their two-car convoy came under fire from unidentified assailants. A bullet grazed the head of cameraman Scott McWhinnie, who was traveling in the second vehicle, CNN said. He was treated at a nearby military base. The remaining members of the convoy —two CNN journalists, a security adviser, and the second driver—were unharmed.
According to CNN, the vehicles were headed north toward Baghdad when a rust-colored Opel approached from behind. A single gunman with an AK-47, positioned through the sunroof, opened fire on one of the vehicles. CNN's vice president for international public relations, Nigel Pritchard, told CPJ that both CNN cars were unmarked and the attackers may not have been aware they were journalists.
Selwan Abdelghani Medhi al-Niemi, Voice of America, March 5, 2004, Baghdad
Al-Niemi, a freelance translator working for the U.S.-funded Voice of America (VOA), was fatally shot while driving home from a relative's house. His mother and 4-year-old daughter were also killed. VOA said a motive had not been established.
Al-Niemi's wife, Ban Adil Serhan, a former translator for the U.S.-based media company Knight-Ridder, told CPJ that she believes she was also an intended target _ and that the assailants mistook al-Niemi's mother for her.
On the day of her husband's funeral, she said, her brother discovered a handwritten note outside the family's front door. Citing Quranic verses, the note said people who work with "infidels" should be killed and warned that Adil Serhan's "turn will come soon, God willing."
Najeed Rashid and Muhammad Ahmad Sarham, Iraq Media Network/Diyala TV, March 18, 2004, Baqouba
Technician Rashid and security guard Sarham, working with the Coalition Provisional Authority's (CPA's) Iraq Media Network, were killed in the town of Baqouba when unidentified assailants opened fire on a bus carrying several employees of the IMN's Diyala Media Centre.
Diyala Media Centre produces IMN's Diyala TV, a local television station.
Nadia Nasrat, a news anchor for IMN was also killed in the attack, according to Charlie Reiser, a U.S. Army spokesman in Diyala. Ten others were seriously injured, he said.
A car carrying three men overtook the bus as it approached the station's entry road from the main highway, Reiser said. The assailants opened fire and then fled.
Reiser said the employees "were targeted because of their affiliation with the coalition forces."
Omar Kamal, Time, March 26, 2004, Baghdad
Kamal, an Iraqi translator working for the U.S.-based news weekly Time, died after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds in Baghdad two days earlier.
Kamal, who also worked as a fixer for the magazine, was shot March 24 while driving his car to an assignment, Time news director Howard Chua-Eoan said. Kamal, who suffered serious head wounds, was taken off life support on March 26.
Chua-Eoan said the circumstances of the shooting were unclear, but a number of Iraqis working for Time received threats from a variety of sources.
Hussein Saleh, Al-Iraqiyya TV, April 19, 2004, near Samara
A driver for the U.S.-funded Al-Iraqiya TV, he was killed by gunfire from U.S. forces near a checkpoint close to the Iraqi city of Samara, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Baghdad. Correspondent Asaad Kadhim was killed and cameraman Jassem Kamel was injured.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for coalition forces in Iraq, confirmed on April 20 that U.S. troops killed the driver and journalist. According to media reports, Kimmitt said coalition forces at the checkpoint fired several warning shots to try to stop the journalists' vehicle. When the vehicle ignored those shots, Kimmitt said, forces fired at the car.
The Associated Press reported that Kimmitt said there were signs in the area indicating that filming was banned at both the base and the checkpoint. According to the AP, Kimmitt said the signs were designed to prevent Iraqi insurgents from conducting surveillance in the area.
Kamel told the AP that no warning shots had been fired at the vehicle.
CPJ continues to investigate this case.
Mohamed Najmedin, freelance, May 27, 2004, Mahmoudiyya
An interpreter working for Japanese freelance journalists Shinsuke Hashida and Kotaro Ogawa, he was killed along with the two journalists when their car was attacked by gunmen in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles (30
kilometers) south of Baghdad, according to news reports. (Agence France-Presse (AFP) listed the interpreter as Mohamed Najmedin. Some Japanese media accounts reported his name as Mohammed Abu Rwaa.)
The group was traveling to Baghdad from the southern city of Samawah, where Japan deployed hundreds of troops. The Associated Press reported that the two journalists were working for the Japanese daily Nikkan Gendai. Japanese TV channel NHK said they also worked for several other Japanese news organizations.
According to press reports, the journalists' car burst into flames after the attack. AFP and the Reuters news agency reported that the car was hit by rocket propelled grenade fire. The driver, an Iraqi who survived the incident and spoke with NHK, said he was able to flee before the car exploded.
Samya Abdel Jabar and Mahmood Daoud, Al-Sabah al-Jedid, May 29, 2004, Baghdad
Abdel Jabar and Daoud, a driver and bodyguard for the Iraqi daily Al-Sabah al-Jedid, were abducted and killed by gunmen. Both men were working for Al-Sabah al-Jedid editor Ismael Zayer.
A group of men arrived at Zayer's house around 9 a.m. in a police car and two civilian cars, Zayer told CPJ an e-mailed statement. The group included an armed police captain and at least two armed men in plain clothes, he said.
They told Zayer he was wanted for questioning because, they said, his car had been involved in a crime. After trying unsuccessfully to force Zayer into the car, they allowed him to go inside and change clothes. Inside, Zayer recounted, he phoned Iraq's interior minister who said no arrest warrant had been issued and warned that Zayer should not leave with the men. When he returned outside, Zayer said, the armed men were gone and neighbors said Abdel Jabar and Daoud had been taken.
Police found both men fatally shot later that day, according to Zayer.
Al-Sabah al-Jedid was formed in 2004 after breaking away from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)-backed daily Al-Sabah, following a dispute between Zayer and the CPA.
Zayer said the offices of Al-Sabah sustained at least five rocket propelled grenade attacks, and 20 people were arrested last year in a plot to kill him.
Unidentified driver working for freelance journalist Enzo Baldoni, on or about August 28, 2004, en route to Najaf
The driver and Baldoni were ambushed by gunmen while traveling outside Baghdad, accordinmg to news reports and CPJ sources. The two were reported missing on August 20. They were believed to be heading to the southern city of Najaf, where U.S. forces had battled with Shiite insurgents for several weeks.
Baldoni was held captive by a militant group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq, which demanded Italy withdraw its troops in exchange for the journalist's release. On August 26, the Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera said it received a video from the group that showed Baldoni had been killed.
The driver's whereabouts were not clear during that time. But officials from Iraq's interior ministry told CPJ that the driver's body was located on August 28 at a hospital in the Iraqi town of Iskandiryah. They said the victim had been shot to death and that his body had been burned.
Ismail Taher Mohsin, The Associated Press, September 2, 2004, Baghdad
Mohsin, a driver working for The Associated Press in Iraq, was killed when gunmen opened fire on his car near his home in the Ghazaliyya neighborhood of Baghdad. Mohsin had been en route to Baghdad's Umm al-Qura mosque while on assignment for the AP.
It was unclear who the gunmen were or why they carried out the attack. The AP reported that nothing was stolen from Mohsin's body, but said that when the driver's relatives and colleagues waited for police at the scene of the crime "a group of armed men in a van pulled up and asked if the car's driver was dead and then drove off."
Mohsin had not received threats or warnings, according to his relatives, but neighbors had observed a suspicious car circling around Mohsin's house the night before the incident, the AP reported.
Police told the AP that two translators and two drivers who were believed to have worked for Americans had been shot dead in the same neighborhood.
In the days leading up to his death, Mohsin, had gone several times to the Umm al-Qura mosque, where a group of Muslim clerics with reputed links to insurgents, had given a press conference regarding the fate of two French journalists who were taken hostage, according to the AP.
Ahmed Jassem, Niniveh Television, October 7, 2004, Mosul
Jassem, an engineer and technical director for Nineveh TV, a local television affiliate of the U.S.-backed national Iraq Media Network (IMN), was killed in a drive-by shooting while traveling to work, according to a friend and colleague. No group has claimed responsibility for Jassem's murder and authorities have not apprehended any suspects, according to the source.
While the motive for the killing remains unclear, employees of IMN and Nineveh TV have been targeted by insurgents and the offices of Nineveh TV in Mosul have been hit repeatedly by mortar rounds from insurgents. Jassem's colleague believes he was killed because of his affiliation with Nineveh TV, noting that the murder occurred during a period of increased violence in Mosul and around the time Nineveh TV was airing programs critical of insurgents in Iraq.
Ali Adnan, Hassan Alwan, Ramziya Moushee, Alahin Hussein, Nabil Hussein, all of Al-Arabiya, October 30, 2004, Baghdad
A car bomb exploded in front Al-Arabiya's Baghdad bureau, killing Adnan, a security guard; Alwan, an engineer; kitchen staff members Moushee and Hussein; and Hussein, a gardener. Al-Arabiya said 14 other bureau employees, among them five journalists, were wounded in the blast. The bureau, in the upscale Mansour neighborhood, was used by two other Saudi-owned news stations-the satellite channel Al-Akhbariya and Al-Arabiya's sister channel, Middle East Broadcasting (MBC).
Al-Arabiya's Web site reported Sunday that a previously unknown group calling itself the "Jihad Martyrs Brigades" claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on the Internet. The statement called Saturday's attack "just a warning" and threatened more attacks on Al-Arabiya and other media outlets in Iraq. The statement's authenticity could not be independently verified.
Earlier, a group calling itself the 1920 Brigades said it had carried out the attack, but Al-Arabiya later reported that the same group denied responsibility in a recorded tape.
About 35 staffers were meeting on the first floor when the bomb exploded directly outside the bureau's front entrance. The blast, which took place in a neighborhood that also houses Iraqi officials and government buildings, left a large crater in the street outside and collapsed the building's first floor, causing a fire.
Al-Arabiya's Web site reported that the station has received numerous threats from those describing themselves as supporters of "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi" protesting its coverage, and demanding that the station support the "jihad" against the U.S occupation and Iraqi government.
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Media Workers Killed in Iraq in 2003: 2
Hussein Othman, ITV News, March 22, 2003, Iman Anas
On March 22, veteran ITV News correspondent Terry Lloyd, cameraman Fred Nerac and translator Hussein Othman came under fire while driving to the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Lloyd was also killed and Nerac remains missing.
The three, along with cameraman Daniel Demoustier, were traveling in two marked press vehicles in the town of Iman Anas, near Al-Zubayr, when they came under fire, according to the British TV network ITN, which produces ITV News.
Demoustier said the vehicles had been pursued by Iraqi troops who may have been attempting to surrender to the journalists. Demoustier reported that the incoming fire to their vehicles likely came from U.S. or British forces.
Demoustier, whose car crashed into a ditch and caught fire, was injured but escaped. He said he did not see what happened to Lloyd, who was seated next to him, or to the other crew members. Lloyd's body was recovered in a hospital in Basra days later.
The Wall Street Journal reported in May 2003 that Lloyd's SUV and another vehicle belonging to his colleagues came under fire from U.S. Marines. The article cited accounts from U.S. troops who recalled opening fire on cars marked "TV." Soldiers said they believed that Iraqi suicide bombers were using the cars to attack U.S. troops.
Citing a report from a British security firm commissioned by ITN to investigate the incident, the Journal reported that Lloyd's car was hit by both coalition and Iraqi fire.
The Journal quoted the report as saying that "[t]he Iraqis no doubt mounted an attack using the ITN crew as cover, or perhaps stumbled into the U.S. forces whilst attempting to detain the ITN crew." The report speculated that Nerac and Othman might have been pulled out of their vehicle before it came under fire from coalition forces, and then Iraqi forces used the SUV to attack the coalition forces.
In June 2004, British military investigators said DNA testing confirmed that remains found at the site were those of Othman. Nerac's whereabouts have not been confirmed.
Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed, BBC, April 6, 2003, near Mosul
Muhamed, a translator working for the BBC, was killed in a case of "friendly fire" when a U.S. warplane dropped a bomb on a convoy of Kurdish soldiers who were traveling near Mosul.
According to press reports, at least 18 people were killed, including members of U.S. Special Forces who were traveling with the convoy. Two BBC journalists, correspondent John Simpson and producer Tom Giles, were injured.
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