Sniper kills Iraqi journalist in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (AFP) - An Iraqi journalist working for a Kuwaiti-owned satellite channel has been gunned down by an unidentified sharpshooter on his way to work, an Iraq-based watchdog said on Saturday.

"The Iraqi reporter Adnan al-Safi, 40, who works for Al-Anwar space channel, died on Friday morning after he had been shot by a sniper in the head on Wednesday," a statement from the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory said.

Safi died from nerve damage more than 24 hours after the incident, which took place in the Otaifiyah area of northern Baghdad, one of his relatives told the organisation.

Safi, who also worked as an adviser to the Iraqi journalists' union and as a reporter for Sawt al-Iraq (Voice of Iraq), is survived by his wife and three children.

According to the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, at least 194 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.

"Covering the war in Iraq is now the most dangerous job in the world for journalists," the group said in its latest statement.

"Reporters Without Borders is also without any word as to the fate of 14 Iraqi journalists who have been kidnapped, some of them more than a year ago."

Many Iraqi reporters have killed by insurgent groups or militias angered by their coverage or ideologically opposed to their employers. Others have been caught in crossfire or killed in error by US troops.

Earlier this month British media giant Reuters demanded that the US military investigate the killing of two of its Iraqi employees after evidence emerged casting doubt on explanations given about their deaths.

The US military said photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40, were killed in Baghdad during fierce clashes with militants in the Al-Amin neighbourhood.