Three more journalists slaughtered in Iraq

The International Federation of Journalists has reported that three journalists have been killed in Iraq in the last two days.

The group said that two of the deaths appeared to be targeted assassinations and the circumstances of the third, reported by the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate (IJS), are still unclear.

This brings the IFJ total for the number of journalists and media staff killed since the invasion of Iraq three years ago to 134.

IFJ general secretary Aidan White said: “The Iraqi government and the military authorities must act to end these targeted attacks on journalists. We need a full investigation into what has happened, information as to who is responsible and action taken to bring the killers to justice.”

According to the IFJ, on Monday night, Iraqi journalist Abdul Wahab Abdul Razeq Ahmad Al Qaisie was found dead, 10 days after he was abducted by masked militiamen in the New Baghdad district. He was the editor-in-chief of Iraqi magazine Kol Al Dounia and had worked as a freelancer for European newspapers for the past 40 years.

Adel Najee Al Mansouri, a reporter for Iranian TV channel Al Alam, was found dead today, a day after armed men took him from his house in the Al Amiriyah district of Baghdad, the IJS said.
The third journalist killed was Riyad Atto, the editor of a newspaper in Talafar, the IJS reported.

Picture (Reuters): Iraqi civilians carry away a victim of a bombing outside a courthouse in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, which killed 20 civilians.