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December 21, 2007

Iraq and Somalia make 2007 year the bloodiest for press since 1994

By Julie Tomlin

As 2008 approaches, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said the death toll among journalists has been the highest since 1994.

CPJ found 64 journalists were killed in direct connection to their work in 2007—up from 56 last year. The organisation is currently investigating another 22 deaths to determine if they were work-related.

In Iraq, 31 journalists were killed – of those 24 were murdered and all but one were Iraqi, according to the CPJ. Somalia was the second-deadliest country for the media. Seven journalists were killed, including Mahad Ahmed Elmi, director of Capital Voice radio in Mogadishu, who died after being shot four times in the head and HornAfrik Media co-owner Ali Iman Sharmarke was killed in an explosion hours later as he left Elmi’s funeral.

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