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Iraq TV reporter gunned down in home: police

MOSUL, Iraq — Gunmen killed a young television news reporter in his home in the restive northern city of Mosul on Sunday, in the latest in a series of deadly attacks on journalists in Iraq, police said.

Mazin Mardan, in his mid-20s, was a correspondent for Al Mosuliyah satellite television channel, covering hard news and carrying out interviews for the city’s local station.

‘Unknown gunmen raided the house of Mazin Mardan of Al Mosuliyah satellite channel in the Al Sadiq neighbourhood, east Mosul,’ police Major Mohammed Al Hayali said. ‘They killed him and they escaped.’

The shooting occurred at around 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) in the city, 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of Baghdad, Hayali said.

In October, the International Press Institute press watchdog said more journalists had been killed in Iraq this year than in all of 2009.

The same month, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Iraq a lowly 145^th place for media freedom out of 175 countries, and in September said the Iraq conflict has been the deadliest for the media since World War II.

And according to the ‘Impunity Index’ released in April by the Committee to Protect Journalists, Iraq has the worst record of any country for solving the murders of reporters.