A freelance cameraman for US-funded Al-Hurra TV satellite channel was among 10 Iraqis killed in violence across Baghdad and the north of the country on Monday.

Tahrir Kadhim Jawad was killed when a magnetic “sticky bomb” attached to his car detonated in the town of Garma, 50 km (30 miles) west of the Iraqi capital.  Jawad was driving to Baghdad to deliver footage when the bomb exploded.  He died instantly.

Another Iraqi journalist, television presenter Alaa Muhsin, also suffered a sticky bomb attack in Baghdad a week earlier on 27 September. Muhsin, who works for state-run Iraqiya TV, was wounded, but survived the attack in Baghdad’s southern Saidiya district.

Jawad is the fifth journalist to be killed in Iraq this year, and the third to be killed there in less than a month, following the shootings of two TV presenters within a day of each other near to their homes.  The month’s toll has taken the war-ridden country from joint fifth to fourth, this year, on the International Press Institute’s Death Watch ranking for the deadliest countries for journalists.

According to the “IPI World Press Freedom Review 2009: Focus on the Middle East and North Africa”, in 2009 Iraq was the eighth most deadly country for journalists, down from ‘most deadly’ in 2008 – a title it had held since 2003.  So far in 2010, Iraq lies fourth behind Mexico, Honduras and Pakistan, all of which have seen significant conflict and lawlessness in 2010.

During the height of the Iraq War between 2003 and 2008, 167 journalists were killed in Iraq, according to IPI’s Death Watch, with Iraq consistently topping the list as the world’s deadliest country.  Last year, however, saw a significant drop in journalist casualties in Iraq, with four journalists killed compared to 14 in 2008 and 42 in 2007.

“The recent increase again in violence against journalists in Iraq is a growing concern,” said IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills.  “So far this year we have seen more journalists killed in Iraq than in the whole of last year.  Whilst, thankfully, this toll is nowhere near the heights seen during the war, Iraq cannot be allowed to slide backwards. On the contrary, the authorities must ensure that the killers of journalists are brought to justice. If a culture of impunity is allowed to continue to thrive, it may fuel further journalist killings.”