Media suffers fresh casualities in Iraq
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 At least seven journalists have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of 2006, raising the media death toll to over 80 since the begining of the US-led invasion in March 2003, according to the Paris-based organization, Reporers Without Borders.
The latest victim was Muhsin Khudayyir, also known as Abu Risalah, the editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine Alif Ba, who was assassinated by gunmen outside his home on March 13 in Baghdad. A few days earlier on March 11, Amjad Hameed, senior editor of Iraq's state television Al-Iraqiya, was gunned down along with his driver as they headed to work in Baghdad.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Hameed was the 11th Al Iraqiya journalist killed since the channel opened after the ousting of Saddam in 2003. Another `Iraqi broadcaster, Munsuf Abdallah al-Khaldi, a Baghdad TV presenter, was killed en route from Baghdad to the northern city of Mosul on March seventh. Baghdad TV is owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party, the biggest Sunni political group. In the last year, two correspondents for the station have been killed, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
In February, three journalists working for the Dubai-based news channel Al Arabiya were abducted and killed by gunmen in Samarra, north of Baghdad. Journalist Atwar Bahjat, 30, cameraman Khaled Mahmoud Al Falahi, 36, and technician Adnan Khairallah, 39, were in the city to cover the bombing of one of the Shia’s holiest shrines of Shia Islam.
Dozens of journalists in Iraq have been targets of abduction by militant groups. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said armed groups have kidnapped at least 39 journalists since April 2004 when insurgents began targeting foreigners. Most have been released, although six have been killed, it said.
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