Two journalists with Kurdish TV station killed four days apart

The killings of two journalists with Kurdistan-TV, the satellite television station of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), in the space of four days were condemned today by Reporters Without Borders as "targeted murders aimed at intimidating a Kurdish news media in Iraq." Cameraman Hussam Hilal Sarsam, who was kidnapped yesterday in Mosul, 380 km north of Baghdad, was gunned down when he tried to escape his abductors today, four days after the fatal shooting of Laik Ibrahim, Kurdistan-TV's bureau chief in Kirkuk, 250 km north of the capital. "We reiterate that journalists are neutral observers and that it is imperative to protect and respect their work in order to ensure complete and independent news coverage," Reporters Without Borders said. "A total of 51 journalists and media assistants have lost their lives trying to report the news since the start of the war in Iraq in March 2003, seven of them in Mosul," the press freedom organization added. After Sarsam, 27, was kidnapped yesterday in a busy section of Mosul, he was forced by his abductors to call one of his colleagues to arrange a meeting. Sarsam reportedly said: "Come and join me, I have something important to tell you." The colleague immediately contacted his superiors who advised him not to go. While being moved by his kidnappers in a car this morning, Sarsam tried to take advantage of a traffic jam to escape, but they shot four times as he ran away. His body was found in the neighbourhood where he was kidnapped. Kurdistan-TV's Mosul bureau has 14 employees, including five reporters and four cameramen. Sarsam, who joined the bureau in January 2004, covered a number of sensitive subjects including the bombings that have taken place in Mosul, in which he filmed witnesses and survivors. His colleagues described him as a "model of courage." Reached by telephone, Mosul bureau chief Akram Slimane told Reporters Without Borders that the station was the target of these killings because it "gives the truth and nothing but the truth." Other employees have also received threats. The Kirkuk bureau chief, Ibrahim, was shot dead as he drove to his bureau.