Iraq journo killed covering battle for Mosul's Old City

By Mohamed Walid

NINEVEH, Iraq (AA) - An Iraqi journalist was killed by an explosive device -- and three French journalists injured -- while covering ongoing fighting in Mosul on Monday, according to an Iraqi police source.

Majid al-Anbaki, an Iraqi Federal Police officer, identified the slain journalist as Bakhtiar Haddad, who, he said, had worked for French daily Le Figaro.

“The journalists had been embedded with the Iraqi army’s counter-terrorism agency during operations to recapture Mosul’s Old City,” Haddad told Anadolu Agency.

According to the Iraqi Observatory for Press Freedom, an NGO, a total of seven journalists have been killed -- and 11 injured -- within the first half of 2017 alone.

Most of these were reportedly killed while covering clashes between the army and the Daesh terrorist group, which overran Mosul in mid-2014.

On Sunday, Iraqi forces began fresh operations aimed at retaking Mosul's Old City, a densely-populated maze of narrow alleys where fighting is usually done house to house.

Backed by air cover provided by a U.S.-led coalition, the Iraqi military is currently engaged in a months-long campaign to reconquer Mosul, Daesh’s last stronghold in northern Iraq.