Roadside bomb kills TV cameraman, injures TV reporter

Reporters Without Borders is saddened to learn that Orhan Hijarn, an Iraqi cameraman working for privately-owned satellite TV station Al-Rashid, was killed by a roadside bomb yesterday in Kirkuk, 240 km north of Baghdad. Abdallah Zadeh, an Al-Baghdadiya TV reporter, sustained minor injuries. “Our thoughts go out to the victim’s family,” Reporters Without Borders said. “This fatality is reminder that Iraq continues to be a dangerous country for the media. Hijarn is the third Iraqi journalist to be killed in a bombing since the start of the year.” The two journalists had been out reporting and were caught in the explosion as they were returning to their homes in Kirkuk’s southwestern neighbourhood of Al Khadra. The road they took is often the site of bombings as US military convoys use it to return to a nearby base. Zadeh has been released from hospital, but is said to be still traumatised by the experience. Iraq was ranked 145th out of 175 countries in the 2009 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.