CPJ calls for investigation into drone attack on Kurdish journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Turkish and Iraqi authorities to investigate after two Iraqi Kurdish reporters were injured in a Turkish attack.
The two Çira TV reporters, Mydia Hussen and Murad Mirza, were returning with their driver Khalaf Khdir from covering the tenth anniversary of an ISIS attack on the southern village of Tal al-Qasab, according to Argash Shengali, a board member of the Germany-based satellite broadcaster Çira TV. Shengali said “the car had no media markings whatsoever.”
According to Shengali and Mehvan Hinji, the leader of the Yezidxan Asayish forces affiliated with the Shengal Resistance Units (YBS), the attack hit the journalist’s car in the Shengal district of northern Iraq on Monday, July 8.
Both reporters are currently being treated for head injuries at Sinjar Hospital in the city of Sinjar, Shingali said. The driver was also injured, he said.
“Iraqi and Turkish authorities must promptly and thoroughly investigate the car accident that injured two Çira TV reporters and their driver to determine the cause,” CPJ program director Carlos Martinez de la Serna said in New York. “Local authorities must ensure the safety of journalists in northern Iraq while they cover important events.”