Journalist deaths total 171 for the year

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• • Jemima Kiss

The International Federation of Journalists has dubbed 2007 a year of "unlimited human tragedy" as it named 171 journalists and media workers that were killed this year during political unrest, war and attacks on press freedom around the world.

Compiled with the International News Safety Institute, figures show that 65 of those killed were working in Iraq.

In May alone, 12 journalists were killed in Iraq including Alaa Uldeen Aziz and Saif Laith Yousuf, a cameraman and soundman for ABC News, and four staff from the Raad Media Company. Freelance photographer Dmitry Chebotayev, who was on assignment for Russian Newsweek, also died.

Though journalists working in Iraq were most at risk, unrest in Pakistan and Somalia contributed to 17 more deaths and five were killed in Afghanistan and three in Sri Lanka.

"Our colleagues have been targeted because of their work, or killed covering dangerous stories often in the rush to cover breaking news," said the IFJ president, Jim Boumelha.

"Violence against journalists remains at extremely high levels for the third year in a row. The scale of attacks on journalists marks a continuing crisis filled with unlimited human tragedy and relentless attacks on press freedom."

The IFJ points out that as well as those covering war, journalists are also at risk when covering political unrest and drug gangs.

In Africa, two journalists were killed as part of a crackdown on press freedom and in Mexico, several have been killed after covering the drugs trade. The journalists most at risk are typically those working in their own countries, said the IFJ.

This year has been the worst year on record for press safety after 2006, where the number of journalists killed while working reached 177. The previous year saw 150 deaths and in 2004, 129 journalists were killed at work.

The IFJ will release its full report in mid-January, detailing every journalist that was killed in 2007. The group says it will continue to push governments to investigate every murder fully and will highlight what it says is the problem of impunity.