Anbar, 28, a freelance journalist and former trainee with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), was killed by Iraqi forces’ fire during a clash with insurgents. The shooting broke out near Al-Mustafa al-Husseiniyah mosque in Baghdad’s Ur neighborhood, according to CPJ sources. Iraqi forces, backed by U.S. military, opened fire after several shots were fired from a building adjacent to the mosque. Civilians rushed for cover, among them Anbar, who was found shot several times in the face and neck, according to IWPR. According to CPJ sources, Anbar was among 16 people killed in the fighting.
Anbar had completed a two-week IWPR course on economics reporting and was writing an article on the displacement of Iraqi families and the volatile housing market. He was at the mosque to interview Sheikh Safaa al-Timimi, head of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s local political movement and an authority on displaced families seeking shelter in Ur, according to IWPR.