Two Iraqi journalists kidnapped and killed

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Two Iraqi journalists working for a Sunni-owned television station were kidnapped and killed last month, the station said Wednesday. The slayings of Mohammed Hilal Karji and Sarmad Hamdi al-Hassani were the latest attack targeting Baghdad TV, which is owned by Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's Iraqi Islamic Party. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday denounced the killings and called on authorities to protect journalists "to avoid further tragedies." Karji, 27, was kidnapped June 7 outside his home while on his way to work in the Yousifiyah region south of Baghdad, and his bullet-ridden body was found in a morgue the following day, an official at the station said. Hassani, 43, was seized from his home in Baghdad's Jamia neighborhood on June 27, his body found the next day, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of further reprisals.