Foreign journo found dead in Baghdad: Security source

By Ibrahim Saleh

BAGHDAD (AA) - An Arab journalist working for the U.S.-funded Al-Hurra television channel was found dead Thursday in Iraqi capital Baghdad, according to a local police source.

“The body of Samer Ali Shakara, who appears to have been shot in the head, has since been taken to Baghdad’s forensic medicine authority,” Baghdad Police Captain Hatem al-Jabiri told Anadolu Agency.

“The authorities have since launched a probe into the circumstances of his death,” al-Jabiri said.

Shakara had reportedly been employed by Al-Hurra as an assistant videographer.

Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country has become one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists, with more than 450 local journalists killed within the last 15 years.