Ahmed Adam and Najem Abed Khudair, reporters with the private Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada, were murdered on a road in Latifiyah, a town about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Baghdad after leaving the office of their newspaper in Baghdad.
A colleague told CPJ that they were killed after meeting with newspaper staff in Baghdad and getting assignments for the week. The journalists were on the way home to Karbala, their hometown, when armed men ambushed their car. The colleague told CPJ that the journalists’ throats were slit and their bodies were left on the side of the road. At least four other journalists were killed after being ambushed on roads in the area south of Baghdad. Initial press reports said that the journalists were traveling with a driver, who was also killed.