Iraq group claims journalist assassination: Web

Dubai, June 10: An Iraqi militant group has claimedresponsibility for the killing of an Iraqi journalist who it said''distorted the reputation of the mujahideen''.

Sahar al-Haideri, a mother of three, worked for the independentAswat al-Iraq news agency in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, wheregunmen killed her on Thursday.

''When she arrived at the area of the ambush the brothers rainedher with bullets from their machine guns killing her instantaneously,''the Ansar al-Sunna group said in a statement posted on the Internet.

Aswat al-Iraq said Haideri's name had been on a ''death list'' ofjournalists issued by the local leader of the al Qaeda-led militantgroup, Islamic State in Iraq.

Ansar al-Sunna is not directly affiliated with al Qaeda, but bothIslamist groups are waging a violent campaign against US-led andgovernment forces.

''The brothers took her mobile telephone ... it had numbers ofpolice (officers) and pictures of policemen, which confirmed to us thatshe was an agent for the apostate police and the government of apostate(Prime Minister Nouri) al-Maliki,'' Ansar al-Sunna added in thestatement.

New York-based media watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists(CPJ) said the gunmen who murdered her had answered her mobiletelephone afterwards and told the caller ''she went to hell''.

Journalists have been dying in record numbers in Iraq, with atleast 12 killed in May, the highest monthly total since the start ofthe US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003, according tomedia watchdogs.

CPJ said Haideri had worked with the media group, which helped relocate her husband and family to Syria after recent threats.

The group said at least 106 journalists, including Haidari, and 39media support staff had been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasionin March 2003.

Reuters>