UNESCO slams killing of Iraqi media workers

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has condemned the killing of two Iraqi media workers.

“I condemn the killing of Adel Mohsen Hussien and Wahdan Al-Hamdani,” Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the UNESCO, said on Tuesday.

According to the UNESCO, Hussien, a journalist who worked for several Iraqi media, was killed by unidentified gunmen in the northern city of Mosul on December 2 and Al-Hamdani, a television journalist, was killed on November 27 in Iraq’s southern city of Basra.

“It is essential that the authorities investigate and bring to justice those responsible for crimes against media workers that affect the whole of Iraqi society,” Bokova added.

Three journalists also lost their lives in Mosul in October.

On October 24, armed assailants shot dead Bashar Abdulqader Najm, a cameraman working for al-Mosuliya television station, police officials reported.

On October 2, a police officer and a doctor said that al-Sharqiya television’s correspondent, Mohammed Karim al-Badrani, and Mohammed Ghanem, a cameraman, were shot dead by unknown gunmen.

Earlier this month, the country’s ministries of health and defense said that 948 people, including 852 civilians, 53 police officers and 43 soldiers, were killed in violent attacks across the Arab country in November.

Another 1,349 people were also injured in the attacks.

The figures make November one of the deadliest months in 2013, with civilians accounting for about 90 percent of the fatalities.

On October 23, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned that Iraq is facing a “war of genocide.”

“It has become clear…that Iraq is subjected to a war of genocide targeting all of its components,” the Iraqi premier said.

He blamed the al-Qaeda militant group for killing thousands of people in Iraq, saying that the group is “destroying the houses of citizens and killing them, and blowing up government departments.”

Data released by Iraq’s ministries of Health, Interior and Defense on November 1 showed that violence in the Arab country has killed 964 people and injured 1,600 others in October alone.