JANUARY

15 January - Bangladesh - Manik Shaha
Manik Shaha, a correspondent for the daily "New Age" and a stringer for the Bengali service of the BBC World Service, was killed when a home-made bomb was thrown at him in Khulna, southwestern Bangladesh.

27 January - Iraq - Yasser Khatab
27 January - Iraq - Duraid Isa Mohammed
CNN translator and producer Duraid Isa Mohammed and driver Yasser Khatab were ambushed and died of multiple gunshot wounds as they were returning to Baghdad in a two-car convoy from an assignment in the southern city of Hillah.

29 January - Pakistan - Sajid Tanoli
The murder of journalist Sajid Tanoli by a mayor in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province over a report about alcohol trafficking. Tanoli, aged 34, a reporter for the Urdu-language daily "Shumaal" ("North"), was killed by Khalid Javed, a lawyer and Nazim (mayor) of Mansehra, in the North-West Frontier Province, 150 kilometres northwest of Islamabad. Javed shot Tanoli five times in broad daylight on one of the city's streets.

FEBRUARY

4 February - Colombia - Oscar Alberto Polanco Herrera
Journalist Oscar Alberto Polanco Herrera was assassinated in the city of Cartago, Valle department, western Colombia. The former director and host of the CNC news programme in Cartago was shot by a hired killer as he was leaving the Cartago local television station at around noon (local time). His assailant fled on a motorcycle that was being driven by another individual.

7 February - Colombia - Martin la Rotta Duarte
asesinado Martin la Rotta Duarte, gerente y propietario de la emisora La Palma Estéreo, ubicada en el municipio de San Alberto (Cesar), norte de Colombia. La Rotta, de 51 años, se encontraba durmiendo en su casa al mediodía cuando le propinaron una puñalada en el pecho. Minutos más tarde unos amigos le auxiliaron, fue llevado a la clínica de San Alberto y remitido a la clínica de Aguachica. Murió en el camino.

7 February - Nepal - Padma Raj Devkota
Security forces killed journalist Padma Raj Devkota in the remote western district of Jumla. Devkota had been working as editor-in-chief of "Burichula" newspaper. "Bhurichula" is published twice monthly, occasionally from the district where Devkota was killed. According to the daily "Samacharpatra", the journalist was killed during routine security operations in the area. Devkota also worked as a local correspondent for "Nepal Today" magazine and "Karnali Sandes" which are published in Kathmandu. The security forces claim that Devkota was killed along with six Communist Part of Nepal (CPN-Maoist) rebels.

10 February - Nicaragua - Carlos Guadamuz
Guadamuz was shot five times at midday on February 10 as he was driving to Channel 23 station in Managua where he hosted a daily program. Although the motive is unknown, William Hurtado García was arrested and identified by station employees as the person who fired at the journalist.

10 February - Philippines - Ruel Endrinal
Ruel Endrinal was shot by two unidentified men at around 6:20 a.m. (local time), according to Jess Magayanes, a colleague from radio station DZRC-AM.

14 February - Peru - Antonio de la Torre Echeandia
Antonio de la Torre Echeandía, a 43-year-old journalist for Radio Orbita in the city of Yungay, Ancash region, was assassinated while on his way home after attending a party. According to information obtained by IPYS, de la Torre Echeandía was stabbed by two individuals who intercepted him in the Pampac neighbourhood. Although mortally wounded, de la Torre Echeandía was able to return to the location where the party had taken place. The police and the journalist's family, who were immediately notified, took the journalist to hospital but he died in transmit. Before dying, he identified one of his attackers as an individual who is known by the alias "El Negro".

18 February - Iran - Kazim Akhbari
A train derailed as a result of a collision with another freight car caught fire, setting off explosions. The freight train cars hauling sulphur, fuel, oil and other industrial chemicals blew up outside the city of Neyshabur. The train cars, moving without an engine or anyone in control, overturned when they reached the Khayyam station. The cars were loaded with petrol, sulphur, fertilizers, cotton. A journalist of the IRNA news agency, who arrived on the crash site after the two trains collided, was among the victims of the tragedy.

22 February - India - V. Yadagiri
A journalist working for Andhra Prabha Telugu daily was stabbed to death by three persons in neighbouring Medak district in the early hours of Sunday. The Medak DSP. T. Laxminarasaiah, told The Hindu that the victim, V. Yadagiri, 35, working as reporter for Andhra Prabha daily in Medak town, was threatened by an excise contractor some time ago following a report about sale of adulterated toddy in Tekmal mandal. Local people intervened and reportedly settled the issue between the journalist and the contractors. A case was registered with the police earlier by the victim in connection with threats made.

22 February - Philippines - Isabelo Maghuyo
Isabelo Maghuyo, 38, of Pedro District in Pagadian, was on his way to radio station dxID when he was shot around 6:30 a.m. by an unidentified man. According to reports reaching the National Police general headquarters in Camp Crame, the single bullet that hit him the chest caused his instant death. The gunman fled immediately after he shot Maghuyo. Authorities said the motive of the killing and the identity of the killer are still being determined.

MARCH

5 March - Iraq - Selwan Abdelghani Medhi al-Niemi
An Iraqi translator who worked for the Voice of America [VOA], and two members of his family, were shot and killed in Baghdad by unknown assailants. The translator, Selwan Abdelghani Medhi al-Niemi, was attacked in Baghdad on Friday night as he was returning home in his car. His mother and daughter, who were travelling in the car with him, were also killed. A VOA spokesman said: "The case is under investigation. We have no explanation, we don't know why he was killed."

7 March - Haiti - Ricardo Ortega
Spanish television journalist Ricardo Ortega was killed and American news photographer Michael Laughlin was injured in Port-au-Prince after shooting broke out as demonstrators were dispersing. At least six people were killed and about 30 were injured. Witnesses said the shots were fired by pro-Aristide gunmen known as chimères. The demonstrators had been calling for Aristide followers to be brought to trial. Ortega did not die at the scene. After being shot, he took refuge in a nearby house with Laughlin, a photographer with the South Florida (United States) daily "Sun-Sentinel", who had also just been injured by gunshots. Laughlin said Ortega continued to film footage with his video camera after being shot. The two journalists were taken to the Canapé Vert hospital in Port-au-Prince, where Ortega died from his bullet injuries, one to the chest and another to the abdomen. Laughlin, who was hit in the shoulder and face, was to be evacuated to a Florida hospital.

18 March - Iraq - Nadia Nasrat
18 March - Iraq - Majid Rachid
18 March - Iraq - Mohamad Ahmad
Attack by armed men on a minibus carrying staff of a coalition forces-funded television station. One journalist and two staff members were killed in the attack, which took place in Baquba, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad. At least eight other staff members were injured. The minibus was transporting employees of the local station Diyala TV.

18 March - Iraq - Ali Abdelaziz
Iraqi cameraman for Al-Arabiya satellite news channel was killed and a correspondent, also Iraqi, was seriously wounded by US fire in Baghdad, officials from the Dubai-based station told AFP. Al-Arabiya news editor Salah Najm told AFP the channel would ask US authorities to investigate the incident. "The car in which they were driving was clearly marked 'TV'. We will demand an investigation into the incident," Najm said. Al-Arabiya reporter Hadeer al-Rubaie said cameraman Ali Abdul Aziz was shot dead an correspondent Ali al-Khatib was critically injured when a team from the channel went to cover an attack on the Burj al-Hayat hotel and US forces who cordoned off the area opened fire. U.S. troops shot dead an Iraqi journalist working for Dubai-based satellite television channel Al Arabiya and critically wounded another in central Baghdad on Thursday, the station and colleagues said.
Arabiya employees said the Iraqis were driving in central Baghdad when another car drove through a U.S. checkpoint. They said U.S. troops then opened fire on both cars.
"I stopped in front of the checkpoint and then I saw another car coming fast towards it and I thought it was going to explode," said Ahmed Abdul Amiya, driver of the Al Arabiya car. "I tried to race away...and then the Americans started firing at random. They hit the first car and then they started shooting at our car."

19 March - Iraq - Ali al-Khatib
Ali al-Khatib died from his injuries in hospital in Baghdad. The station's cameraman Ali Abdelaziz died the previous day from a gunshot wound to the head after U.S. troops opened fire on their car at a checkpoint.

19 March - Mexico - Roberto Javier Mora Garcia
The editor of the newspaper El Mañana was assassinated outside his home, the newspaper and other sources reported. Roberto Javier Mora García was stabbed to death early Friday (March 19) as he arrived at his home, the newspaper reported. Witnesses provided contradictory information, including reports of gunfire in the neighborhood, the newspaper said.
The newspaper said it had sought the intervention of the Attorney General's Office in investigating the case.

22 March - Palestine - Mohammed Abu Halima
Palestinian journalist shot dead by Israeli troops in a refugee camp on the outskirts of the West Bank town of Nablus today while covering protests against the killing of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, medical sources said.
Mohammed Abu Halima, 22, was hit in the stomach after troops opened fire in the Balata refugee camp. He was taken to hospital in Nablus where he died of his injuries. He had been working for al-Najah radio station, based in the northern West Bank city's university.
Israeli military said soldiers returned fire after shots were fired at them during the protest and stressed the victim was also a member of the Palestinian radical Islamic movement Hamas.

26 March - Iraq - Burhan Mohammed Mazhour
Burhan Mohammed Mazhour, an Iraqi citizen born in 1969, had been working for ABCNEWS as a freelance cameraman for almost two months. He died of gunshot wounds sustained during heavy firefighting in Fallujah. It was unclear who killed him.

26 March - Iraq - Omar Kamal
An Iraqi translator working for the U.S.-based newsweekly Time died after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds in Baghdad two days earlier.
Omar Kamal, who also worked as a fixer for the magazine, was shot and critically wounded driving his car on route to an assignment, said Time news director Howard Chua-Eoan. The circumstances of the shooting were unclear, but a number of Iraqis working for Time have received threats from a variety of sources.

APRIL

20 April - Brazil - Samuel Roman
Samuel Roman was murdered in Coronel Sapucaia, a Brazilian town on the border with Paraguay.
Roman, 37, was shot dead by two men on 20 April in front of his home on an avenue between twin towns Coronel Sapucaia (Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil) and Capitán Bado (Paraguay). Brazilian police who are heading the investigation said they believe four men, riding motor bikes, were involved in the killing.
Two men fired several shots at him as two accomplices waited on the Paraguayan side of the road. The four then fled to Paraguay. Roman apparently tried to flee but was hit in the back by 11 bullets. He was dead on arrival at the local medical centre.

20 April - India - Kumar Bharti
Kumar Bharti, a journalist with Hindi-language newspaper Amar Ujala, was killed and 6 others wounded when their car triggered a landmine in Jammu and Kashmir, where they were monitoring Lok Sabha elections.

20 April - India - Asiya Jeelani
In Kashmir, a woman journalist and human rights activist, Asiya Jeelani, 30, was killed with her taxi driver when their car hit a landmine, police said. Muslim rebels in disputed Kashmir, Maoists in the lawless east and tribal separatists in the northeast hills attacked poll stations, staged landmine blasts and fought gunbattles amid the first of five phases of India's election.

21 April - Peru - Alberto Rivera Fernandez
Alberto Rivera Fernández, a journalist, former member of parliament and president of the Ucayali Journalists' Federation, was assassinated on 21 April 2004, at approximately 1:30 p.m. (local time), in the city of Pucallpa, eastern Peru.
According to information gathered from local correspondents, the journalist was working in his office, which is housed within a glass store run by his family, when two unidentified individuals reportedly burst in and shot him twice in the chest.
Rivera Fernández was the host of the programme "Transparencia", broadcast daily on the Frecuencia Oriental radio station. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
The journalist worked closely with Congressman Víctor Valdez and was known for his strong opposition to local and regional authorities because of profits they made from the sale of land occupied by squatters in Pucallpa.
In a 21 April statement on Radio Programas del Perú network, Congressman Valdez accused Ucayali Regional President Edwin Vásquez López and the provincial mayor of Coronel Portillo, Pucallpa, Luis Valdez Villacorta, of being behind the murder. These allegations have not been confirmed to date.

24 April - India - Naveen Kumar Verma
Outlawed Maoist guerillas killed a journalist in Bihar after abducting him.
Police officials said Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) guerillas killed Naveen Kumar Verma in Gaya district Saturday.
He was working for the Patna edition of Hindi daily Dainik Jagran. This was the first ever killing of a journalist by Maoists in the state that has become a hotbed of extremist violence.
The MCC guerillas abducted Verma from his house in Nima village and took him to a nearby field where he was shot dead. His body has been sent to a government hospital in Gaya for postmortem.

24 April - Brazil - Jose Carlos Araujo
Two unidentified gunmen ambushed and shot Araújo at around 7:30 p.m. outside his home in Timbaúba, according to local news reports. None of the journalist's belongings were stolen.
The 37-year old Araújo hosted the call-in talk show "José Carlos Entrevista" (José Carlos Interviewing) at Rádio Timbaúba FM. Citing police sources, the Recife-based daily Diário de Pernambuco said that Araújo had made several enemies in Timbaúba after denouncing the existence of death squads run by criminal gangs and the involvement of well-known local figures in murders in the region.

MAY

8 May - India - Raju Soni
A TV cameraman was killed and a senior journalist was seriously injured in a road accident near Katlal town of Khera district in Gujarat early today, police sources said.
The cameraman Raju Soni was killed on the spot while Dhiman Purohit, Gujarat bureau chief of Aaj Tak, suffered multiple injuries when their car collided head-on with a truck.
The scribes were returning from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh after election coverage.

8 May - Russia - Adlan Khasanov
Reuters journalist Adlan Khasanov was among at least 14 people killed in a bomb attack on Victory Day celebrations in the Chechen capital Grozny Sunday, a member of his family said. He had been covering the annual event that commemorates Moscow's victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. There were no other immediate details.

20 May - Iraq - Hamid Rashid Wali
An Iraqi technician from al-Jazeera television Hamid Rashid Wali was shot dead on the night of 20 May in Kerbala, during clashes between the US Army and Shiite militia of Moqtada al-Sadr, the channel said in Baghdad.

24 May - Romania - Elena Popescu
24 May - Romania - Ionut Barbu
18 people, including two journalists, both working for Antena 1 TV, died in the accident which occurred on Monday, May 24, 5 A.M. in Mihailesti village, Buzau County. A truck carrying ammonium nitrate turned over on the road crossing Mihailesti village. The firemen came to the scene of the incident to put out the burning truck, but a second explosion blew up the vehicle and caused the death of 18 people and injured another 11.

27 May - Nepal - Kanyaras Gurung
Kanyaras Gurung, the driver of a media vehicle, was killed and two others were injured when they drove over alandmine planted by Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-Maoist) rebels in Tanahun district. The vehicle was carrying newspapers for the daily "Annapurna Post" from Kathmandu to Pokhara on the second day of a general strike called by rebels in the Gandak region.

27 May - Iraq - Shinsuke Hashida
27 May - Iraq - Kotaro Ogawa
27 May - Iraq - Mohamed Najmedin
A vehicle carrying two Japanese freelance journalists and their driver and interpreter, both Iraqis, was attacked near Baghdad and the Japanese are feared to have been killed.

28 May - Montenegro - Dusko Jovanovic
The director and editor-in-chief of the Podgorica-based [opposition] daily Dan, Dusko Jovanovic, died in the Montenegrin Clinical Centre this morning of wounds he had sustained when an unknown perpetrator had opened fire on him in front of the Dan offices in 13 Juli Street [in Podgorica] around midnight [2200 gmt]. The unknown person opened fire on Jovanovic from a passing car immediately after he had entered his car. Jovanovic received several fatal wounds. He was operated on in the Montenegrin Clinical Centre, but died after a few hours.

28 May - Iraq - Mahmoud Ismael Daood
28 May - Iraq - Samia Abdeljabar
On 29 May, bodyguard, Mahmoud Ismael Daood and his driver, Samia Abdeljabar, were found dead after they were kidnapped a day earlier. The men worked for two journalists, Ismael Zayer, editor-in-chief of the Baghdad independent Arabic-language al-Sabah al-Jedid newspaper, and his wife Anneke van Ammelroy, who writes for the Dutch weekly De Groene Amsterdammer. Their abduction took place after a failed attempt to kidnap Zayer and his wife.

31 May - Sri Lanka - G. Nadesan
A Tamil journalist was killed by unidentified gunmen near Batticaloa in eastern Sri Lanka. G. Nadesan, a freelance ethnic-Tamil journalist who used to file reports for Veerakesari Tamil daily, was shot when he was going to a temple in Batticaloa, 303 km east of here, officials said.

JUNE

6 June - Saudi Arabia - Simon Cumbers
BBC cameraman Simon Cumbers has been killed and security correspondent Frank Gardner seriously injured in a gun attack in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
The two men travelled to Saudi Arabia last week following terror attacks in the city of Khobar and were in the al-Suwaydi suburb of Riyadh with a Saudi government minder when the attack happened. They were filming the house of an al-Qaeda militant killed last year when they came under fire.

8 June - USA - Matt Moore
A television journalist covering a gas well explosion was apparently electrocuted Tuesday when his station's van came in contact with high voltage wiring, the station said. Matt Moore, an employee of KBTX in Bryan-College Station, was setting up for a live shot in Hearne when he was killed.
The explosion he was covering in nearby Franklin, about 100 miles northeast of Austin, injured eight people, but the well was capped quickly and the fire extinguished, officials said. Moore, 23, started working for the station in September.
All eight victims of the explosion were hospitalized, with their conditions ranging from fair to critical, according to Angela Clendenin, a spokeswoman for St. Joseph Regional Health Center.

17 June - Philippines - Eliseo Binoya
Eliseo ("Ely") Binoya, a radio commentator with Radyo Natin, was gunned down by unidentified assailants today outside of the port city General Santos, on the southern island of Mindanao. Binoya was on his way home this afternoon when he was ambushed by two gunmen on a motorcycle along a highway at the outskirts of the city. The assailants chased down Binoya, who was also riding a motorcycle, and shot him several times from behind. The shots killed him instantly, according to news reports. The gunmen then fled the scene.
According to local journalists, Binoya's assassination may have been tied to his pointed radio commentaries. The local police have launched an investigation.

22 June - Mexico - Francisco Ortiz Franco
Gunmen ambushed and killed a deputy director of a crusading Mexican newspaper Tuesday, the state attorney general's office. Baja California officials said that Francisco Ortiz Franco was with his children at the time, but they were unharmed.
The weekly, Zeta, has gained attention for its reporting on the influence of drug traffickers in Tijuana. The newspaper's co-founder Hector Felix Miranda was ambushed and killed April 20, 1988. Two men were convicted in the shooting.
In 1997, the newspaper's publisher, Jesus Blancornelas, was badly wounded in a gangland-style attack that killed his bodyguard and driver.

27 June - Bangladesh - Humayun Kabir Balu
Humayun Kabir Balu, president of the Khulna Press Club and editor of a local daily, the Janmabhumi, was killed in a bomb attack near the entrance of his newspaper office-cum-residence. He was 57. His eldest son Asif Kabir, 25, editor of a local evening daily, Rajpather Dabi, was injured in the incident.
Humayun Kabir Balu is the fifth newsman killed in Khulna district since 2001.

28 June - Colombia - Alvaro Paul Marquez
Broadcaster shot and killed by gangleaders in San Antonio de Sotavento in the Northeast of Colombia.

JULY

9 July - Russia - Pavel Khlebnikov
As Mr. Klebnikov left his office Friday night and headed toward a nearby metro station, a black Lada sedan approached. Quickly closing the distance, the car's windows were rolled down and one, perhaps two, guns emerged. Mr. Klebnikov was shot four times and died of chest wounds on the way to the hospital.
It was the kind of contract killing Paul Klebnikov had written about many times while covering Moscow's often nasty convergence of politics, commerce and crime. But this time, the Forbes Russia editor-in-chief was the victim.

11 July - Brazil - Jorge Lourenco dos Santos
Dos Santos was killed at about 7.30 p.m. [local time] outside his home in the town of Santana do Ipanema, 125 miles (200 km) from Maceio, Alagoas State capital, according to local press reports. A man shot Dos Santos four times and fled in a car. The journalist was taken to a local hospital but died shortly after arriving.
The 59-year-old Dos Santos owned the radio station Criativa FM, which was based in his home, and hosted a show in which he frequently criticized local politicians and businessmen. Local police have confirmed that the journalist had received death threats and had been the target of two attempted killings, according to the Maceio-based daily Gazeta de Alagoas. No suspects have been detained.

17 July - Russia - Payl Peloyan
The body of Payl Peloyan, editor of Armyanskiy Pereulok magazine [a Moscow arts magazine], was found on the 43rd kilometre of the Moscow ring road with knife wounds to the ribcage and bruising to the face. It is not clear if the killing is related to his work.

31 July - Philippines - Roger Mariano
Ilocos Norte—Police admitted on Monday that they have yet to establish the motive for the ambush-murder of the hard-hitting broadcast journalist, Roger Mariano, on the national highway in Barangay Barabar 22, San Nicolas.
Mariano was riding his motorcycle on his way home in Bara­ngay Peralta in Dingras when he was ambushed.
Police recovered at least 16 empty shells of M-16 Armalite and carbine rifles at the scene of the crime.
Mariano was hit 4 times in the head and 11 times in the back, based on the autopsy report.

AUGUST

5 August - Philippines - Arnel Malano
Arnel Manalo, a correspondent for DZRH radio and local newspapers in Batangas, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Manila, was shot three times after dropping off his children at school.

9 August - Philippines - Jonathan Abayon
Radio broadcaster Jonathan Abayon, 27, who was shot in the southern city of General Santos on Sunday after an argument with the suspected gunman, died in hospital late yesterday, police said.
Superintendent Willie Dangane said authorities were hunting for the suspect in the Abayon shooting, an ex-army sergeant who was working as a bodyguard for Filipino world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
It was not clear if Abayon's shooting was related to his job, although co-workers of Abayon had said that there had been friction over his criticism over the radio of the boxing champ.

11 August - Nepal - Dekendra Thapa
A NEPALI journalist had been killed by communist rebels weeks after they kidnapped him in the country's mountainous western district, a media rights group said today.
The rebels posted a notice at Dekendra Thapa's Narayan village in Dailekh district, about 500km west of Kathmandu, saying they had killed the journalist for spying on the rebel group. Thapa, who worked for the state-run Radio Nepal, was seized by the rebels in June.

15 August - Iraq - Mahmoud Hamid Abbas
An Iraqi editor/producer for ZDF, Mahmoud Hamid Abbas, 32, was killed Sunday afternoon outside Fallujah. He was believed to be heading back to Baghdad to report on US air strikes on the city. Circumstances of his death are not yet clear.

15 August - Iraq - Hossam Ali
An Iraqi freelance photographer was found dead in a morgu in Falluja with an official press badge. Circumstances on how he was killed are not yet clear.

16 August - Sri Lanka - Kandasamy Ayer
Kandasamy Ayer, a journalist, writer, and political activist with the opposition Tamil group the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), was shot and killed by unidentified assailants in the capital, Colombo.

17 August - Ecuador - Wilson Fajardo
Local radio reporter targeted and brutally killed.

21 August - Iraq - Unknown
The driver, translator of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni was found dead, it is feared that the journalist has been kidnapped.

22 August - Bangladesh - Kamal Hossain
Masked assailants abducted and killed Manikchhari Upazila Press Club General Secretary and Ajker Kagoj correspondent Kamal Hossain.
The criminals broke into his house and picked him up at gunpoint.
His family said Kamal hid on the false ceiling of his tin-shed house but was forced to come down as the criminals threatened to kill his two-year-old son.
Police said Kamal was an outspoken person and wrote several reports on criminal activity in the area.

26 August - Iraq - Enzo Baldoni
Militants in Iraq announced they had killed abducted Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, 56, of the Milan weekly magazine Diario, according to Al-Jazeera, which said it had footage of his body. A group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq said it had killed Baldoni after Italy refused to withdraw its troops. Italy's prime minister described the reported killing as an "act of barbarity".

29 August - Nepal - Badri Khadka
On 29 August 2004, security forces reportedly killed journalist Badri Khadka in Morang district, eastern Nepal. He was arrested in the Kalyanpur area and killed in Govindapur-7, in the Larikata area. Eyewitnesses told the media that Khadka was brutally tortured after his arrest.
The security forces earlier denied having arrested Khadka, saying he may have been killed in crossfire with Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-Maoist) rebels. CPN-Maoist sources said he was a member of their publication department for the Mechi and Koshi region. They allege that the army kidnapped and killed Khadka.
Khadka was working as a regional reporter for "Janadesh Weekly". The weekly is believed to be the CPN-Maoist's mouthpiece and is currently disseminated solely on the Internet.

31 August - Mexico - Francisco Arratia Saldierna
Suspects beat newspaper columnist, Francisco Arratia Saldierna, to death and dumped his body in the Mexican corder city of Matamoros.

SEPTEMBER

1 September - Venezuela - Mauro Marcano
Marcano was killed by a group of unknown assailants that fired gunshots to his head and leg, on Wednesday, September 1, in front of his home in the city of Maturín, in Monagas State. The reporter, who was also an independent city councilman, hosted a program on Radio Maturín and wrote a column for several newspapers in that part of the country. He criticized issues relating to drug trafficking and investigators have not dismissed the possibility that his murder could have been linked to his work as a journalist.

7 September - Mexico - Leodegario Aguilera Lucas
Editor of the magazine Mundo Politico. His body was founf four months after he had been kidnapped from his home in Acapulco, reasons for his killing are not clear yet.

11 September - Greece - Giorgios Xenoudakis
Giorgios Xenoudakis died 11 September 2004 when a helicopter crashed while covering the first official visit of Petros Patriarch of Alexandria to Aghion Oros, the monastic autonomous region of Christian Orthodox Monasteries in Macedonia, Northern Greece.
Giorgios Xenoudakis was born in 1952 and at the time of his tragic death was working as editor of athletic news for Newspaper "Ta Nea", also editor-in-chief of monthly newspaper "Agiptiotis" popular with the Greek community in Egypt and edition counsellor for magazine "Panegiptia".

12 September - Iraq - Mazen al-Tomaisi
Palestinian television journalist, Mazen al-Tomaisi, was killed and two photographers wounded when US helicopters fired missiles into a mob in Baghdad during fierce fighting Sunday, Al-Arabiya television said.
Mazen al-Tomaisi, 28, who worked for Saudi television Akhbariya and as a producer for the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya, was killed covering the fighting in Haifa Street which erupted after a US helicopter air strike, said Al-Arabiya reporter Ahmed Saleh.

14 September - Dominican Republic - Juan Andújar
Andújar was leaving Azua Radio station when he was shot in the head by Blas Pujols, a member of an alleged gang. Four other members of the gang had died that morning in a gunfire exchange with police.

17 September - Russia - Vladimir Pritchin
A journalist was killed in the Republic of Buryatia in the course of a poaching raid on September 17.
Severobaikalsk Television Company Editor-in-Chief Vladimir Pritchin filmed the raid conducted by three inspectors. They saw poachers but the wrongdoers managed to escape.
The inspectors and Pritchin stopped for the night at a pickup post where seven other people were staying. The poachers attacked the sleeping people, took their guns and disappeared in the inspectors’ motorboats.
Pritchin died on the way to hospital. One of the inspectors died in hospital.

28 September - Guatemala - Miguel Angel Morales
On 28 September 2004, journalist Miguel Ángel Morales, secretary general of the National Press Society (Círculo Nacional de Prensa, CNP), was assassinated. The incident occurred on the highway. Morales was driving on the highway when a vehicle behind him, which did not have a licence plate, began to swerve. Thinking that the individuals in the vehicle were inebriated, Morales pulled over to let them pass, at which point an unidentified individual got out of the vehicle and shot the journalist, killing him instantly.

29 September - Philippines - Romeo Binungkal
Romeo Binungkal, former editor-in-chief of the local newspaper "Mt. Samat Weekly Forum", was killed on his way home to Pilar, Bataan in Central Luzon. Binungkal, 43, was the third journalist killed in Bataan province. At the time of his death, he was a correspondent for the Manila-based tabloids "Remate" and "Bulgar".
Binungkal was riding his motorcycle when he was shot by unidentified men. The incident occurred on the boundary between Balanga City and Pilar town, at around 4:00 a.m. (local time). Binungkal was shot in the head and other parts of his body with a .45 calibre pistol.
The police have not yet established the motive for the killing. It is not known if the journalist had received threats prior to his death.
Police have not identified any suspects to date.
The other two journalists killed in Bataan were Tim Olivarez, who worked for "Tempo" and "The Luzon Tribune", and Ruben Manrique, publisher and editor of "The Luzon Tribune".
Binungkal is the seventh journalist killed in the Philippines this year.

OCTOBER

2 October - Bangladesh - Dipankar Chakroborty
On the night of 2 October 2004, Dipankar Chakroborty, a 55-year-old senior journalist and executive editor of the Bogra-based daily "Durjoy Bangla", was hacked to death near his residence in Sherpur. The attack occurred as Chakroborty, who was also vice-president of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), was returning home from his workplace. According to witnesses, a group of individuals who were riding on motorcycles assaulted the journalist, striking him from behind with sharp weapons.
Thus far, the motive behind the killing is not known.

14 October - Iraq - Dina Mohammed Hassan
A female Iraqi television journalist was killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said.
Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul Rahman said the reporter was fatally shot by three assailants driving by in an Opel car around 8:00 am.
The journalist was identified as Dina Mohammed Hassan, who was working for Kurdish-run Al-Hurriya TV, said the station's director Nawrooz Mohammed.
He confirmed the assassination and said an investigation is underway. He gave no further details.

15 October - Iraq - Karam Hussein
AN Iraqi photographer working for the European Press photo Agency was shot dead by gunmen outside his home in the northern city of Mosul, friends and his employer said.
Karam Hussein, 22, who formerly contributed photos to The Associated Press, was leaving his home when a group of unidentified gunmen opened fire with semiautomatic weapons.
The motive for the killing was unclear but many Iraqis working for foreign news organisations have been killed and threatened in recent months.

19 October - Philippines - Eldy Gabinales
Radio commentator Eldy Gabinales, also known as Eldy Sablas, was killed in Tandag, Surigao del Sur. An unidentified assailant shot Gabinales three times from behind in the head and body as he rode his tricycle from a supermarket.
While not confirmed, the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines has suggested one motive behind the shooting was his vocal opposition to the alleged illegal drugs trade and illegal gambling in his town. He often expressed these views as host of “Singgit sa mga Lungsuranon (Cry of the People)" program over local Radio DXJR-FM.

20 October - Belarus - Veronika Cherkasova
Veronika Cherkasova was working for the independent trade unions' newspaper Solidarnost, having earlier written for the independent Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta and Belorusskaya Gazeta newspapers, was found stabbed to death in her apartment.
Cherkasova, 44, had a 15-year-old son.
Minsk prosecutors launched an investigation into the crime.

24 October - Bangladesh - Shahid Anwar Apollo
Shahid Anwar was working for the english-language daily newspaper Asian Express in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. Police and witnesses said the unidentified assailants entered the office of the daily newspaper in the city’s busy Elephant Road area and shot twice in the forehead of Anwar. Anwar who was one of the Assistant Editors of the daily died on way to hospital. Police suspect personal rivalry might be the reason behind the killing.

26 October - China - Ping Chung-cheng
Ping Chung-Cheng of Taiwan Television Entreprise (TTV), stationed in Keelung City, was swept away by flashfloods while he and three other reporters were gathering information at the Yuanshantse anti-flood facilities. Firefighters said that the reporters' vehicles was stuck in a low-lying area and that the reporters were swept away by surging water. Firefighters managed to save Huang Chun-ming from the China Times, Yang Huei-chi from the United Daily News and Yang Shu-ling, a local cable television reporter.
Ping, 30, was recovered an hour later and pronounced dead.

27 October - Iraq - Liqaa Abdul-Razzaq
27 October - Iraq - Unknown
Gunmen killed Liqaa Abdul-Razzaq, an Iraqi news reader, and her translator, on their way home from work at al-Sharqiya television in Baghdad. Abdul-Razzaq was a popular presenter who had previously worked for Iraqi state television. The journalist had a 6-year old boy and a month-old baby girl. She was killed two months after her husband was murdered. The motive of the killing is not clear.

30 October - Iraq - Ali Adnan
30 October - Iraq - Hassan Alwan
30 October - Iraq - Ramziya Moushee
30 October - Iraq - Alahin Hussein
30 October - Iraq - Nabil Hussein
Car bomb attack against the Baghdad bureau of the Dubai-based satellite broadcaster Al-Arabiya killed five station employees, and more than a dozen other Al-Arabiya employees were wounded in the apparent insurgent attack.
Those killed were Ali Adnan, a security guard; Hassan Alwan, an engineer; kitchen staff members Ramziya Moushee and Alahin Hussein; and Nabil Hussein, a gardener. Al-Arabiya reporter Najwa Qassem said 14 other bureau employees, among them five journalists, were wounded in the blast. The bureau, in the upscale Mansour neighborhood, was used by two other Saudi-owned news stations - the satellite channel Al-Akhbariya and Al-Arabiya's sister channel, Middle East Broadcasting (MBC).
Al-Arabiya's Web site reported that a previously unknown group calling itself the "Jihad Martyrs Brigades" claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on the Internet. The statement called Saturday's attack "just a warning" and threatened more attacks on Al-Arabiya and other media outlets in Iraq. The statement's authenticity could not be independently verified.
About 35 staffers were meeting on the first floor when the bomb exploded directly outside the bureau's front entrance. The blast, which took place in a neighborhood that also houses Iraqi officials and government buildings, left a large crater in the street outside and collapsed the building's first floor, causing a fire.
Al-Arabiya's Web site reported that the station has received numerous threats from those describing themselves as supporters of "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi", protesting its coverage and demanding that the station support the "jihad" against the U.S occupation and Iraqi government.

NOVEMBER

1 November - Iraq - Dhia Najim
Dhia Najim, freelance cameramen for the news agency Reuters, died on assignement in the Iraqi City of Ramadi while filming heavy clashes in a gunbattle between Marines and insurgents. The cameraman was at first half-hidden by a wall and move into the open when he was hit by a single bullet in the back of the neck that killed him instantly.
Najim, born in 1957, leave a wife, three daughters and a son.

2 November - the Netherlands - Theo Van Gogh
Dutch journalist and film maker Theo van Gogh, who made a controversial film about Islamic culture, was stabbed and shot dead in Amsterdam, Dutch police say. Police arrested a man in a nearby park after an exchange of gunfire. The man, aged 26, had joint Dutch and Moroccan nationality, they said.
Van Gogh, 47, had received death threats after his film Submission was shown on Dutch TV. It portrayed violence against women in Islamic societies. The film was made with liberal Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who fled an arranged marriage.

7 November - Ivory Coast - Antoine Masse

10 November - Nicaragua - Maria Jose Bravo
A reporter for La Prensa, Nicaragua's top newspaper, was shot in the heart during a row over local election results outside a vote counting center in Juigalpa, 140 kilometers southeast of Managua.
Maria Jose Bravo, 24, died on her way to hospital and the suspected murderer, a former mayor of El Ayote identified as Eugenio Hernandez, has been apprehended. Bravo was shot when she stepped outside a polling center to witness a row between followers of rival political parties over the tight results of a local election.

11 November - Brazil - Nicolas Reynard
11 November - Brazil - Joel Donnet
A seaplane plunged in the Amazon jungle's River Negro killing all three occupants, a Brazilian pilot and two French journalists.
Nicolas Reynard, a Gamma agency photographer, and Joel Donnet, a photographer for National Geographic, died along with pilot Paulo Sergio de Miranda Correa when the plane crashed in the river near Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state in northern Brazil.

12 November - Philippines - Gene Boyd Lumawag
A Filipino photojournalist was shot dead while working on a story in the Islamic militant stronghold of Jolo island in the southern Philippines, the military said.
They identified the victim as Gene Boyd Lumawag, employed by the domestic news service Mindanews.
The photographer was attacked by an unidentified lone gunman in downtown Jolo at dusk, said southern Philippines military spokesman Captain Richie Pabilonia.
The attacker escaped and no arrests have been made, Pabilonia said. The motive for the attack was not known.
Co-workers contacted by telephone said Lumawag was working on an unspecified news assignment in Jolo with another Mindanao journalist, who was unhurt in the attack.
The second journalist later sought refuge in a Roman Catholic church in the mainly Muslim island, they said.
Jolo is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, a self-proclaimed separatist Muslim guerrilla group that has waged a bombing campaign against Christian targets and kidnapped Western missionaries and tourists over the past decade.

13 November - Philippines - Heherson Hinolan
Heherson Hinolan, better known by his radio name as Bombo Boy, station manager and anchor of DYIN Bombo Radyo in Kalibo, Aklan, was shot by five unidentified assailants at 11pm. Hinolan died from wounds sustained from the shooting in hospital on Monday, 15 November. It is believed that Hinolan was targeted for his hard-hitting commentaries. Witnesses said Hinolan was clearly the target of the attack because the gunmen did not shoot at Hinolan's companions.

26 November - Philippines - Stephen Omaois
Stephen Omaois, 24, a reporter for the provincial news weekly Guru Press and for government-run radio DZRK, was found dead by police on the outskirts of Tabuk town on Saturday, police investigators said. The body of the journalist bore torture marks. The victim had head injuries, apparently from rocks that were found beside the body.
He was believed killed Friday 26 November. Omaois was working on a 9 million-peso public works project in Pinukpuk town. Staff member said the paper received death threats for the public works project story.

27 November - Philippines - Allan Dizon
Allan Dizon, a reporter-photographer of the Freeman daily and its sister publication Banat News in Cebuano, was shot three times by an unidentified man. Dizon was standing near a car wash outlet near the Cebu North Reclamation Area when the shooting started. Dizon was hit in the back, with the bullet exiting through his breast, in the right side of his abdomen and in his cheek.
Dizon was a responsible father and husband. He had four children aged between 8 to 11.
Police authorithies have formed the Task Force Newsman to look into Dizon's murder.

27 November - Mexico - Gregorio Rodriguez
According to reports, Rodriguez, a photographer with "El Debate" newspaper, was murdered on 27 November in Escuinapa, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, an area well known for drug trafficking. Rodriguez died instantly when he was shot at least five times as he ate at a restaurant with his wife and sons. The motive for the murder is not yet known and no arrests have been made.

29 November - Zimbabwe - Masimba Albert Karikoga
Zimbabwe HERALD Entertainment Editor, Masimba Albert Karikoga, died Sunday 29 November in a car accident near Selous along the Harare-Bulawayo road.
Karikoga was travelling with his friend Arthur Muzite, who also died in the accident, when they were returning from Chegutu where they had gone to cover a renowned local artist, Simon Chimbetu's show.

DECEMBER

4 December - India - Prashant Bhole
4 December - India -R V Syed
Prashant Bhole (25) and R V Syed (29), both journalists, were returning on their motorbike after covering a meeting when they tried to avoid hitting a youngster on a cycle. They lost their lives when a truck rammed into their motorbike. The truck driver, Santosh Moulik, was arrested immediately.
Syed died almost immediately in hospital, having borne the impact of the collision from behind. Bhole suffered internal injuries and succumbed later.
Syed was a journalist with the Jan Aadesh and is survived by a wife and three daughters.
Bhole, a reporter with Marathi daily Lokmat. He leaves behind an ageing mother and two brothers.

6 December - Yemen - Mohammed Salem Al-Sagheer
Mohammed Salem Al-Sagheer, the prominent Yemeni journalist and Al-Waseet newspaper’s editor-in-chief, was found killed along with his wife in his house located in downtown Sana’a. The killer, described as professional by criminal investigators, had used a silenced gun shooting bullets one of which lodged in the head of the wife, and three others penetrated his skull and heart. Mohammed Al-Sagheer was a supporter for the freedom of press, enabling more than 26 private sector and opposition newspapers to publish their stuff at reasonable prices by means of his printing press. He was described as father of Yemeni press.

11 December - Sri Lanka - Lal Jayasundara
A bomb attack occured against a mega musical show in Colombo. The attack resulted in the death of two persons, including a journalist. Lal Jayasundara, a 20-year-old photojournalist for the Wijeya newspaper group, was standing close to the stage and taking photographs of the show when the bomb exploded, killing him and a young woman instantly.
Sinhala Buddhist extremist groups, including a section of the Sanga-dominated Hela Urumaya political party (Sinhala Heritage party), had launched a protest campaign against the show on the grounds that it was being held on the first anniversary of the death of popular Buddhist preacher Soma Thero.

16 December - Gambia - Deida Hydara
The AFP correspondent in the Gambian capital Banjul, Deida Hydara, 58, was shot three times and died instantly shortly after midnight as he was dropping off colleagues from the newspaper The Point, of which he was co-editor with Pape Saine.
Hydara had worked for AFP since 1974, beginning his career with the agency as a translator. In 1994 he became a correspondent for the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres in the former colony.

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