A Washington Post correspondent and a freelance reporter were killed in Iraq during the past two days.

Dhi Abdul-Razak al-Dibo, a 32-year-old freelance reporter, was killed yesterday when driving his BMW with his guards near Kirkuk, 290 kilometers north of Baghdad, Kirkuk police spokesman Brigadier General Sarhat Qadir said.

Al-Dibo's family said he lived in Kirkuk and contributed stories to at least two weekly newspapers in Tikrit, 130 km north of Baghdad.

A correspondent for the Washington Post, Salih Saif Aldin, 32, an Iraqi who sometimes wrote under the name Salih Dehema for security reasons, was killed on Sunday, according to a statement from the newspaper.

The newspaper said that Aldin's wounds appeared to indicate he was shot at close range.

Aldin was the first Post reporter to be killed during the Iraq War, the newspaper added.

Iraqi journalists working for local or international media frequently come under threats from insurgents because of their reporting or their affiliation with Western organizations.

Excluding the latest deaths reported, at least 118 journalists and 41 media support workers have been killed in Iraq since the war started in March 2003, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Guardian - Agencies

(China Daily 10/16/2007 page12)