Horror at gruesome murders of two Iraqi journalists

Reporters Without Borders voiced shock today at the gruesome murders of two Iraqi journalists, whose throats were reportedly cut by armed men while they were headed toward the holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad. "We are horror-struck by these murders, we share the grief of the victims' families and we extend them our full sympathy," the press freedom organization said, adding, "there is no justification for such barbarity." The organization said the murders brought the number of journalists and media assistants killed in Iraq since the start of the year to 11, almost half the total number of press victims in all of 2005. In all, 58 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003. The two latest victims were Najem Abed Khodair, who worked for the independent daily newspapers Al-Madaa and Tariq al-Shaab, and Ahmad Adam, a poet and writer who used to contribute to Al-Madaa and Sabah, another newspaper. Launched after the start of the war, Al-Madaa concentrates on political news. Agence France-Presse quoted an Iraqi army officer as saying yesterday that the two journalists were heading towards Kerbala, their home town, when they were intercepted near Latifiyah by armed men, who took them to the roadside and cut their throats. After abandoning the bodies, the assailants "fled into the surrounding orchards," he said. The Iraqi army announced today that a group of nine armed men suspected of carrying out the murders were arrested south of Baghdad.