FEBRUARY 25, 2005
Posted: March 1, 2005
Raeda Wazzan, Al-Iraqiya
KILLED—CONFIRMED
Wazzan, a news anchor with the Iraqi state TV channel Al-Iraqiya who was kidnapped on February 20, was found dead five days later on a roadside in Mosul, where the journalist had lived and worked, according to press reports citing her husband. She had been shot in the head repeatedly. Gunmen had also kidnapped Wazzan’s 10-year-old son, but he was released days later.
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Wazzan’s husband said that his wife had received several death threats with demands that she quit her job, The Associated Press reported. The station, funded by the Iraqi government, also came under mortar attack last week, injuring three technicians, according to press reports. The AP reported that al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attacks in Internet postings, but those claims could not be independently verified.
Wazzan became the 37th journalist killed in Iraq since March 2003.