Iraq takes deadly toll on journalists

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NEW YORK, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Iraq is the deadliest nation for journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

In its annual "Attacks on the Press" report, the group said 61 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003. Others put the figure higher but that number exceeds the 58 journalists killed during the 1993-1996 Algerian conflict.

In a preface to the report, Paul Steiger, committee chairman and Wall Street Journal managing editor, said the United States may have furthered the trend.

"I strongly suspect that there is a relationship between the rise in deaths and incarcerations abroad and the infringement of press freedom at home," Steiger said in an apparent reference to ex-New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

Other organizations also say Iraq is becoming the deadliest place for journalists, The New York Times reported.

Washington news museum Newseum says 66 journalists have died so far in Iraq, surpassing the 63 killed in Vietnam and Cambodia from 1965-1975 and approaching the 69 killed during World War II from 1940-1945.