By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Reporters Without Borders has called for the creation of a special task force and a witness protection program in a bid to crack down on violence against the media in Iraq, with at least five journalists killed in the past week.
The Paris-based advocacy group urged Iraqi authorities to establish a special police unit to investigate the killings of journalists and to organize awareness programs among Iraqi security forces and the public. It also recommended a witness protection program be set up with the help of neighboring countries to aid the investigation.
"The Iraqi authorities must fulfill their duty to protect journalists," the group said in a statement issued Thursday.
Reporters Without Borders said four Iraqi journalists had been killed by armed groups since May 26. That count did not include an Associated Press Television News cameraman, who was shot to death Thursday during clashes in a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad.