By Xinhua
Baghdad : An Iraqi journalist working for a U.S. newspaper was killed by gunmen on Friday, an Interior Ministry source said.
“Gunmen ambushed the car of Khalid Samin, a journalist working for the U.S. Newsweek daily, when he was driving in Baghdad’s southern neighborhood of Saidiyah, and showered him with bullets, “the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
A Samin’s colleague told Xinhua that the victim called him earlier by telephone saying that there was a security tension in his neighborhood and he might be late.
Later, Samin called again and said the situation became stable and he was on his way to the office, according to his colleague who declined to be identified.
“However, witnesses in the neighborhood called again and confirmed that Samin has been assassinated by unknown gunmen,” he added.
On Thursday, two of Reuters’ Iraqi staff were killed during clashes between insurgents and the U.S. troops in Baghdad’s southeastern neighborhood of al-Amin.
Nameer Noor al-Deen, 22-year-old photographer and his driver Saeed Shmagh, 42, were killed during the clashes.
The cause of death was not clear though witnesses talked about an explosion in the area where they killed, Reuters’ Baghdad office said in a statement.
The Iraqi police reported the incident but did not confirm the cause of death, saying “the death might be caused by a U.S. aerial bombing or a mortar attack.”
Early on Thursday, the U.S. troops backed by helicopters fought fierce clashes in Baghdad’s southeastern neighborhood of al-Amin with militiamen in the Shiite area, the police said.
The clashes resulted in the killing of 16 people and wounding of 24 others, the source said.
More than 230 Iraqi media workers have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to Baghdad-based Iraqi Union of Journalists.