NY Times reporter killed in Iraq

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An Iraqi reporter working for the New York Times was shot dead in Baghdad on Friday, the newspaper has reported.

Khalid Hassan, 23, was killed on his way to work in southern Baghdad, although the exact circumstances were unclear, the newspaper said.

Mr Hassan died a day after two employees of Reuters news agency were killed a clash involving US forces.

The advocacy group Reporters Without Borders says 194 journalists have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion.

The majority of those killed have been Iraqis.

'Vital contribution'

New York Times executive editor Bill Keller said Mr Hassan was "part of a large, sometimes unsung community of Iraqi news gatherers, translators and support staff, who take enormous risks every day".

"Without them, Americans' understanding of what is happening on the ground in Iraq would be much, much poorer," he said.

The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders has urged the US military and the Iraqi police to investigate the deaths of Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and his driver, Saeed Chmagh, 40.

A statement from US military command said the two had been killed in a fire fight between coalition forces and insurgents, but Iraqi police have blamed US military action for the deaths.

Paying tribute to Noor-Eldeen and Chmagh's work, Reuters chief executive Tom Glocer said their contribution to reporting the unfolding events in Iraq had been "vital".

Elsewhere on Friday, at least two Iraqi guards were killed in a mortar strike on Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

The violence comes a day after the White House released its report on progress in Iraq.