Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen shot dead an Iraqi newspaper editor in front of his house in western Baghdad on Sunday morning, a colleague said.

    "Mohan al-Dahir, an editor working for the al-Mashriq newspaper, was killed when three armed men showered him with bullets in front of his house in the Jamiea neighborhood," His colleague, Haider al-Sultani told Xinhua.

    "The gunmen knocked on his door at about 7:30 a.m. and when he came out they opened fire," Sultani said.

    Al-Mashriq is an independent newspaper and has been published daily since 2003.

    According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 150 journalists have been killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003.