N.Y. Times journalist fatally shot in Baghdad

NEW YORK -- Khalid W. Hassan, a reporter and interpreter in the Baghdad bureau of The New York Times, was shot and killed yesterday. He was the second Iraqi employee of The Times to be killed during the war.

Hassan, 23, was shot in the Seiydia district of south central Baghdad while driving to work. He had called the bureau earlier and said his normal route to the office had been blocked by a security checkpoint. "I'm trying to find another way," he told the bureau staff.

Within about 45 minutes, gunmen in a black Mercedes forced Hassan's Kia to the side of the road and opened fire with automatic rifles, authorities said. At least one bullet struck Hassan in the upper body.

Slumped over in his car, Hassan called his mother, and then his father, telling them he was shot. "I'm OK, Mom," he said.

Police said a second group of gunmen in an Opel Vectra saw Hassan using his cellphone, pulled forward, and fired two fatal shots into his head and neck.

Some friends and relatives of Hassan believe he was probably a victim of the Mahdi Army, a powerful Shi'ite militia founded by the populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, issued this statement: "Khalid 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.

"Without them, Americans' understanding of what is happening on the ground in Iraq would be much, much poorer. To The Times, Khalid was family, and his death is heartbreaking."

Hassan was one of the longest-serving local members of the bureau, having joined in the fall of 2003. He was of Palestinian descent; his family had fled to Iraq after the war with Israel in 1948.

Fakher Haider, 38, a Times stringer in the city of Basra, was killed in similarly mysterious circumstances on Sept 19, 2005.

John F. Burns, chief of the Times Baghdad bureau, described Hassan as "a resourceful and brave member of our news team, who met the many professional and personal challenges of his four years on our staff with enduring good humor and optimism." He was buried later yesterday in a cemetery in northeast Baghdad.