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Alert

Three more journalists killed, two apparently victims of targeted assassinations; a fourth beaten by Ministry of Interior police

(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is an IFJ media release:

Wave of Killings Sparks New Media Targeting Fears in Iraq

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called for an immediate and urgent inquiry by Iraqi authorities into the reported killing of three journalists in the last two days.

Two of the deaths in this recent wave of attacks were what appeared to be targeted assassinations and the circumstances of the third, reported by the Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate (IJS), are still unclear.

The IFJ says that these deaths bring to 134 the number of journalists and media staff killed in Iraq since the United States invasion three years ago.

The IJS also said that police working for the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior today attacked and beat Ali Al Yassi, who works for US-based Arabic-language satellite channel Al Hurra.

"The events of the last 24 hours are shocking," said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. "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."

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, the Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate said. 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.

The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries.