Four Iraqi journalists, including director of a local media organization, were shot dead by gunmen on Wednesday near the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk, some 250km north of Baghdad, local police source said.

"Gunmen riding a vehicle intercepted a car carrying four journalists and showered them with bullets near the Rashad area, 25km west of Kirkuk," Brigadier Burhan Wasif, chief police of Kirkuk, told Xinhua by telephone.

One of the victims was Raad Mtashar, a well-known journalist and director of the local al-Raad media organization.

According to Reporters Without Borders organization, up to 170 journalists and media assistants killed since the start of fighting in Iraq in March 2003.

(Xinhua News agency May 10, 2007)