About IFEX:

News by region:

IFEX Campaigns and Advocacy:

IFEX Email Products:

Opportunities and assistance:

Sports journalist killed by car bomb

A reporter with TV station Al-Baghdadia was killed by a car bomb in Mosul, northern Iraq, on 31 May, report the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Border (RSF).

Alaa Abdel-Wahab, a sports journalist with the Cairo-based station, had just finished lunch and was entering his car with colleague Sultan Jerjis, when the bomb went off. Jerjis, a sports presenter with local radio station "Al-Rasheed" is said to be in stable condition with injuries to his legs, CPJ reports.

In another attack that same evening, members of the state-run Al-Iraqiya television station were severly injured when a bomb attached to their car exploded in Baghdad, CPJ reports. One of the wounded, sound engineer Hameed Yousif, is in critical condition; the identity of the second person is unknown.

"We express our deepest condolences to the family and colleagues of Alaa Abdel-Wahab and wish our injured colleagues a quick recovery," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle ‎East and North Africa program coordinator. "These attacks are reminders that Iraqi journalists are in great danger as they report the news for their country and the world.

It remains unclear as to why the journalists were targeted, though the two car bombs appear unrelated, according to CPJ. Both IFEX members are demanding that the Iraqi authorities immediately investigate the bombings and bring those responsible to justice. "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," RSF said.

Abdel-Wahab's death is the third killing of a journalist in Iraq this year, CPJ reports.