Two CNN employees killed in ambush near Baghad

After the death of two of CNN's Iraqi employees yesterday in an ambush outside Baghdad, Reporters Without Borders today urged journalists working in Iraq to take the utmost care and called on international news organisations to pay great attention to the risks run by their own staff and the Iraqi nationals they hire there. Translator Duraid Isa Mohammed and driver Yasser Khatab were killed in an ambush by unidentified gunmen about 30 km south of Baghdad as they were returning by car from Hillah. CNN cameraman Scott McWhinnie was grazed by a bullet, while two other CNN staffers, correspondent Michael Holmes and producer Shirley Hung, and a bodyguard were unhurt in the incident, the US television network reported in its news broadcasts. Reporters Without Borders currently considers Iraq to be one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Since US President George W. Bush announced the end of combat on 1 May 2003, security conditions have not improved for journalists. The post-war period have been almost as dangerous for journalists as the war itself because of the high risk of bombings and attacks by armed Iraqi groups, violence linked to robbery and banditry, and the US army's too often hostile attitude towards the media. Twelve journalists and two news media employees have been killed in 2003 in Iraq. Several others have been killed in accidents or in circumstances unrelated to their work while they were in the country.