BAGHDAD, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen shot dead an Iraqi television journalist in the volatile western province of Anbarover the weekend, the TV station he worked for reported on Tuesday.

    "Ahmed Riyadh al-Karboli, 25, was killed when gunmen in two cars showered him with bullets near a mosque in Ramadi city," said the Baghdad TV station, owned by the Iraqi Islamic party.

    The Journalistic Freedom Observatory, a U.S.-based committee on protection of journalists, condemned Karboli's assassination,saying that "the goal of killing journalists, especially in the restive areas, is to hide the facts of what is happening there."

    Karboli had received death threats from militant groups over the past four months warning him to leave the TV station.

    According to the Observatory, since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, some 137 journalists have been killed in Iraq.Enditem