WASHINGTON – An Iraqi translator who worked for Time magazine in Baghdad died on Friday after being shot earlier this week, the New York-based magazine said.
March has seen a string of attacks on employees of media organisations in Iraq as anti-American rebels have increasingly focused on "soft targets," including Iraqis working for Western companies.
Time spokesman Ty Trippet said Omar Hashim Kamal died at about 7 a.m. Baghdad time on Friday. The magazine said Kamal was shot on Wednesday in Baghdad and had been in critical condition at an American military hospital in the Iraqi capital.
"Ever since we opened our Baghdad office last year, Omar has proven invaluable in helping Time tell the story of Iraq to readers worldwide. We are forever in his debt," Time Managing Editor Jim Kelly said in a statement.
Kamal is survived by a wife and 4-year-old son.
Last week, gunmen ambushed and killed three Iraqis working for a U.S.-funded television and radio station near Baquba, northeast of Baghdad.
Two Iraqi journalists working for Dubai-based satellite news channel Al Arabiya were also shot and killed in their car in Baghdad last week.
Arabiya said they were killed by U.S. troops at a checkpoint, but the U.S. army says it is still investigating.
Earlier this month, a translator working for Voice of America was shot to death in his car along with his mother and daughter in an apparently targeted attack.
In January, gunmen opened fire on a CNN convoy south of Baghdad, killing two Iraqi staff.
Some Iraqis working for foreign media organizations in Baghdad have also received threatening letters.
