Brussels, 2 January - A total of 167 journalists and support staff died trying to cover the news in 37 countries in 2006, making it the worst year on record for news media casualties.

The dead comprised 137 journalists and 30 other newsgathering personnel such as drivers and translators. 77 worked for newspapers and agencies and 84 for broadcast organisations. The affiliations of 6 were uncertain.

Most died in their own countries, reporting on localised conflicts and crime and corruption.

Iraq was the worst killing field with 68 fatalities -- all but two Iraqi -- bringing the total number of news media lives claimed since the start of the war in 2003 to 169.

Of the global total, 133 were murdered, most of them apparently targeted in connection with their work. Circumstances often are unclear as only a handful of violent journalist deaths -- as few as one in ten -- are properly investigated and prosecuted.

"The 2006 figures paint a dreadful picture which is deeply troubling for the future," commented INSI Director Rodney Pinder. "The death toll keeps on spiralling upwards.

"We had a record 147 dead last year, including 48 in one terrible air accident. This year the total is not only higher overall but the number murdered has mushroomed."

The UN Security Council on 23 December unanimously adopted a resolution condemning deliberate attacks on journalists and calling for an end to such practices.

The resolution, the result of a two-year campaign by INSI, the International Federation of Journalists and the European Broadcasting Union, demanded all parties to conflict respect the professional independence and rights of journalists and other media personnel and prosecute those responsible for violence against them.

Saying it was deeply concerned by acts of violence against the news media, it stressed the deliberate targeting of civilians "may constitute a threat to international peace and security" and reaffirmed its readiness to "consider such situations and, where necessary, to adopt appropriate steps."

It also asked the Secretary General to address the safety and security of journalists in his regular reports on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

"This is a major step forward," Pinder said. "It is real recognition by the international community of what we have been saying for a long time -- that we have a major crisis on our hands with the widespread killing of journalists who keep the world informed. Without a free flow of information our societies and economies would be crippled.

"This call from the highest level of the United Nations must be heeded. INSI will ensure the Secretary General is kept informed of all incidents of harm against news media personnel everywhere. We hope this action will result in a real reduction in the numbers of casualties in 2007 and beyond."

Outside Iraq, the worst country for journalist deaths in 2006 again was the Philippines with 15 dead, followed by Mexico (8), Sri Lanka (7) and Guyana (6).

One of the worst single atrocities occurred in Guyana in August when an armed gang raided the printing works of the newspaper Kaieteur News, forced printers to lie on the floor and shot five of them. A similar execution took place in Iraq in October when masked gunmen burst into the offices of the fledgling TV channel Al-Shaabiya in Baghdad and shot dead 11 employees in the deadliest assault on the media of the entire war.

As a safety organisation, INSI records all causes of death, whether deliberate, accidental or health-related, of all news media staff and freelancers while on a news assignment or as a result of a news organisation being attacked because of its work.

During 2006 most victims were shot, but eight were beaten to death, six were stabbed, two were beheaded and two tortured, one was stoned and one evidently was deliberately suffocated. Nine died in crossfire and 22 in air or road accidents. One journalist died of a heart attack during a news conference.

Prominent casualties included campaigning Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, shot in her apartment building in Moscow on 7 October. The special correspondent for the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta was well known for her investigative reports on corruption and human rights abuses.

Other internationally mourned victims included Al-Arabiya correspondent Atwar Bahjat, kidnapped and murdered with her cameraman Khaled Mahmoud Al Falahi in Samarra, Iraq, and veteran Swedish freelancer Martin Adler, shot in the back as he covered a demonstration in Mogadishu, Somalia.

But the vast majority of the dead, as always, were little known outside their own countries -- workaday journalists bravely reporting on the dark recesses of their societies.

They included, at random: