News radio journalist gunned down in Baghdad

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the murder of Nabil Ibrahim Al-Dulaimi, a journalist with the Baghdad-based news radio station Radio Dijla, who was gunned down yesterday by two men in a car as he was leaving his home in the northwest Baghdad neighbourhood of Washash to drive to work. “Targeted murders of journalists are mounting steadily in Iraq,” the press freedom organisation said. “We appeal yet again to the Iraqi authorities to do everything possible to protect media personnel.” Dulaimi, 36, was married and had two daughters, aged seven and three. He used to work for a TV station, joining Radio Dijla after Saddam Hussein's ouster. Radio Dijla (which means “Tiger,” the name of the river flowing through Baghdad), is an independent station that was founded in 2003. Mohammed Abderrahmane, a Radio Dijla presenter who was kidnapped in September, is still missing. His wife and four children have received no news of him. Aged 55, he was kidnapped just after moving home as a result of receiving death threats. A total of 138 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003. Four journalists are currently held hostage.