Gunmen kidnapped and shot dead three Iraqi journalists from Iraq's Sharqiya TV station along with their driver in the volatile northern city of Mosul today.
It was one of the single deadliest militant attacks on journalists in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.
The shootings mark a violent two days in which dozens have been killed in gun and bomb attacks mainly in northern Iraq - underscoring the security challenges the government faces even as violence has fallen to lows not seen since early 2004.
Two roadside bombs killed at least eight people in Baghdad and Diyala province northeast of the capital today.
Last night, a car bomb apparently targeting people on the streets breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan killed 30 people and wounded 47 in Dujail in northern Salahuddin province.
"Today at noon, armed people kidnapped and killed four of our workers in the channel," Sharqiya, an independent channel based in Dubai and known for its criticism of the Iraqi government, said in a statement read by one of its presenters.
It said the dead were its chief Mosul correspondent Musab Mahmoud al-Azawi, two cameramen and a driver.
"The staff of this channel, whose hearts are full of mourning today, confirm our determination to go ahead with its independent work," the statement said.
The four went missing in the early hours and police said they recovered their bodies bearing gunshot wounds on the western side of Mosul. They had been filming a programme on charity during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
One of the crew later said her colleagues were snatched from outside a house where they were filming. She escaped.
The head of Iraqi security operations in Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province, Major-General Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, who has himself survived more than one assassination attempt in Mosul, said Iraqi forces were pursuing suspects.
"We surrounded the area, chased the suspects and so far we've arrested two of them in a car," he told Sharqiya in an interview. But he added that two others were still on the loose.
Al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups still roam Mosul, which, like some other northern areas, is struggling to shake off an insurgency as the rest of Iraq enjoys better security.
An Iraqi-led offensive that began in Nineveh in May cut attacks in the province to 30 per week by July, from 130 before the operation, but they have crept back up to 60-70 per week, US military officials say. Some residents fear insurgents fled the city when the operation started, only to return later.
The Nineveh crackdown was among a series of military offensives by US and Iraqi forces that have significantly weakened al-Qaeda, but they and other militant groups have shown they can still carry out lethal attacks.
Reuters