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Gunmen kill 4 Iraqi TV staff in Mosul
BAGHDAD - Gunmen kidnapped and shot dead three Iraqi journalists from Iraqs Sharqiya TV station along with their driver in the volatile northern city of Mosul on Saturday, the station and police said. It was one of the single deadliest militant attacks on journalists in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.Today at noon, armed people kidnapped and killed four of our workers in the channel, Sharqiya, an independent channel based in Dubai and known for its criticism of the Iraqi government, said in a statement read by one of its presenters. It said the dead were its chief Mosul correspondent Musab Mahmoud al-Azawi, two cameramen and a driver. The staff of this channel, whose hearts are full of mourning today, confirm our determination to go ahead with its independent work, the statement said. The four went missing in the early hours and police said they recovered their bodies bearing gunshot wounds on the western side of Mosul. They had been filming a programme on charity during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. One of the crew later told Reuters her colleagues were snatched from outside a house where they were filming. She escaped. The head of Iraqi security operations in Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province, Major-General Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, who has himself survived more than one assassination attempt in Mosul, said Iraqi forces were pursuing suspects. We surrounded the area, chased the suspects and so far weve arrested two of them in a car, he told Sharqiya in an interview. But he added that two others were still on the loose. Posted by: Steve White 2008-09-14 |
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