Baghdad - Fourteen militants were killed in northern Iraq Wednesday while booby-trapping a truck while eight Iraqi students were abducted in Baquba and a prominent Iraqi journalist was shot dead in Baghdad, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported. The militants accidentally blew themselves up in the Shurqat district, north of Tikrit. Tikrit is the capital of Salah Eddin province and is 140 kilometres north-west of the capital Baghdad.
Journalist Hamed Sarhan, 57, was shot dead Tuesday afternoon on his way home in southern Baghdad, Iraq's press syndicate president Shehab al-Tamimi said Wednesday.
For more than 30 years, Sarhan worked for many newspapers, local magazines and also for the Iraqi news agency. He is survived by his wife and five children.
According to Iraqi press syndicate statistics, about 230 Iraqi journalists have been killed since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Meanwhile, gunmen kidnapped eight Iraqi students near Muqdadiya in Baquba, the Association of Muslim Scholars said Wednesday.
The gunmen stopped a mini-bus Tuesday and took the eight male students away, but left the female ones, the statement said.
Baquba, capital of Diyala province, is 60 kilometres north of Baghdad. It has been witnessing fierce clashes between joint US-Iraqi forces and militants, and security crackdowns.
