Female Iraqi Kurdish TV reporter killed in Mosul

MOSUL: A female reporter working for Iraqi Kurdish channel Rudaw was killed by the explosion of a roadside bomb Saturday during fighting between government forces and militants in Mosul, her channel said.

“Prominent Rudaw war reporter and journalist Shifa Gardi has been killed in Mosul as she covered clashes,” Rudaw said on social media.

“Journalism remains male-dominated — Shifa Gardi broke those perceptions and stereotypes — we pay tribute to her courageous journalism,” the channel said.

Rudaw editors told AFP that the 30-year-old reporter, who was born a refugee in Iran, was killed by an explosive device on a road in west Mosul and said that the cameraman working with her was wounded.

He was transferred to Arbil, the nearby capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region where the channel is headquartered.

Saddened to hear Shifa Gardi has been killed. We have lost a courageous and professional journalist who cracked the glass ceiling #Rudaw https://t.co/63NeNu06HR

— Bayan Sami Rahman (@BayanRahman) February 25, 2017

Iraqi forces entered neighbourhoods of the west bank of Mosul on Friday for the first time since the start on October 17 of a huge offensive to retake the city from the Islamic State group.

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Gardi was the second journalist to die covering the Mosul offensive, in the first days of which a young Iraqi reporter for Al Sumaria TV, Ali Raysan, was also killed.

Ranked 158th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ 2016 World Press Freedom Index, Iraq is one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists.

“Shifa Gardi was one of Rudaw’s most daring journalist,” the channel said in a statement.

She had recently started presenting a daily show on the Mosul offensive, the early stages of which Kurdish peshmerga forces took part in.

Often when we arrive somewhere Rudaw is already there. Intrepid & determined. Our condolences to friends at @Rudawkurdish @RudawEnglish https://t.co/3867BGqk7Q

— Quentin Sommerville (@sommervillebbc) February 25, 2017

Rudaw posted a picture on their website of Gardi holding a rabbit she found wounded while on assignment south of Mosul earlier this week.

“I brought it back with me. We will be treating the rabbit and then give it to an animal protection agency which is willing to look after it,” she was quoted as saying.

Extremely Disheartening to Hear of #ShifaGardi‘s Death, a Brave Journalist & Role Model to Young Women.My Condolences to Her Family & #Rudaw pic.twitter.com/2Ion7tNEYY

— Falah Mustafa (@FalahMustafa) February 25, 2017