( AP ) - An Iraqi journalist for The New York Times was shot to death Friday as he headed to work, the newspaper said.
Gunmen killed Khalid W. Hassan, 23, in the southwest Baghdad district of Sadiyah, according to a statement from Times spokeswoman, Catherine Mathis.
He "was shot and killed on the way to work," the statement said. "The circumstances of the attack remain unclear at this time."
Hassan, who worked for the paper in Baghdad for four years, "was part of a large, sometimes unsung community of Iraqi news-gatherers, translators, and support staff, who take enormous risks every day to help us comprehend their country's struggle and torment," said Bill Keller, the Times executive editor.
"Without them, Americans' understanding of what is happening on the ground in Iraq would be much, much poorer," Keller added.
His slaying came a day after two Iraqi staffers of the London-based Reuters news agency - a photographer and a driver - were killed by clashes between U.S. forces and Shiite mililtiamen in east Baghdad.