A police officer and a doctor said on Saturday that al-Sharqiya television’s correspondent, Mohammed Karim al-Badrani, and cameraman, Mohammed Ghanem, were shot dead by unknown gunmen.
An al-Sharqiya journalist said the pair had received death threats from militant groups for covering reports on security forces and officials in the city.
The media rights watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, had said earlier in 2013 that many “Iraqi journalists are routinely exposed to threats, murder attempts, attacks, difficulties obtaining permission, denial of access, confiscation of equipment and so on.”
Meanwhile, three people were also killed and five others injured earlier on Saturday, after a roadside bomb went off near a checkpoint in Youssifiyah town, 20 km south of the capital, Baghdad.
Iraq has seen a sharp rise in bombings and shootings since the beginning of this year.
According to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), nearly 980 people, including Iraqi civilians and security forces, were killed and 2,130 people injured in the country’s violence in September.
UNAMI added that Baghdad witnessed the most deadly attacks during the month of September, with nearly 420 deaths.