Alaa Qassem Mohan, an editor and technician for Al-Ahed Radio, succumbed to his wounds on May 20, 2016, after suffering grievous injures in a Baghdad market bombing two weeks prior, according to his employer and the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate.
CPJ is investigating whether Mohan was at the market in Sadr City, where he was a resident, for personal reasons or because of a work assignment. Qassem Numan al-Radini, Al-Ahed Radio’s director of external relations, told CPJ that Mohan went there to interview families of victims of previous bombings in the neighborhood. Al-Ahed is affiliated with the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the son of the namesake for Sadr City, the deceased Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr.
At least 63 people were killed and 85 people were injured when the car bomb that killed Mohan exploded in the market on May 11, according to The Associated Press. The Islamic State group, which targets Shia Muslims as part of its violent sectarian ideology, claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement, the AP reported.
Sadr City, a predominately poor and Shia district, has been repeatedly attacked by militants from the Islamic State group. In February, at least 70 people were killed in a double suicide bombing of Sadr City carried out by militants from the Islamic State group riding motorcycles, according to news reports.
The Iraqi Journalists Syndicate said Mohan suffered wounds to his head, chest, leg and lungs, in addition to multiple bone fractures. As he lay in the hospital, another bombing claimed by the Islamic State group hit Sadr City on May 17, killing at least 18 more people, according to AP.
Al-Radini told CPJ Mohan was a “brave man who loved helping others without asking anything from them.” He was married with two children, al-Radini said.