Booby-trap bomb kills journalist in latest attack on the profession

Reporters Without Borders condemned the killing today of cameraman Tahrir Kadhem Jawad, working for the Arabic-language service of the US TV channel al-Hurra, who was killed by a bomb placed under his car as he was going to work near Jasr al-Korma, east of Fallujah. This killing is the latest in a series of targeted attacks against journalist over the past few weeks (for further information see: http://en.rsf.org/irak-journalists-are-victims-of-29-09-2010,38461.html). The worldwide press freedom organisation called for urgent protection to be provided for the country’s journalists and urged the authorities to speed up the conclusions of the investigation that has just been opened so that light can be shed on this latest murder. The war in Iraq has been particularly deadly for journalists, as Reporters Without Borders recorded in its report, «The Iraq War: a Heavy death Toll for the Media since World War II, March 2003 to August 2010», published on 7 September 2010, that found the killers have been tracked down and sentenced in less than 1% of cases (http://en.rsf.org/iraq-the-iraq-war-the-heaviest-death-07-09-2010,38294.html). Since the US military withdrawal began in August 2010, violence against journalists has continued in a climate of total impunity.