Mortar fire kills media worker, wounds journalist in Iraq

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A technician working with an Iraqi media channel was killed and a journalist wounded Saturday in Iraq’s western Jazirat al-Khaldiyeh while covering military operations against the Islamic State (ISIS) in that area.

 

“Both worked for Al Ahad TV, a channel affiliated with Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of the most powerful Shiite militias in Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary umbrella,” AFP reported.

 

It said the two were hit by a mortar while covering confrontations between the Iraqi army and ISIS militants in the area in western Anbar province.

 

"Our TV team came under mortar fire in Jazirat al-Khaldiyeh as they were covering the battle," Raida al-Ogaily, head of public relations at Al-Ahad, told AFP.

 

"Broadcast technician Ali Ghani was killed and the correspondent, Hussein al-Fares, was wounded," she said.

 

Last week, a reporter for Kurdistan TV who was embedded with the Peshmerga was killed by a mortar that targeted the Kurdish forces on the Khazir front near Mosul.