Iraqi journalist shot dead in Kirkuk

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead an Iraqi journalist working for a Kurdish magazine in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, police and the publication said on Tuesday.

Soran Mamahama, 23, was killed outside his home on Monday evening in the multi-ethnic city, a police official said.

"Soran's killing is a serious blow ... to freedom of the press," Haimen Baqir, deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine, told Reuters.

A friend of Mamahama's, who declined to be identified, said the journalist had received threats by text message last year warning him to quit being a reporter or be killed.

At that time he worked for a different publication.

Militant groups have sought to exploit tensions between Kurdish and Arab residents in Kirkuk. Control of the oil rich city is disputed.

Iraq is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, according to New York-based watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

About 130 reporters and 50 assistants have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, it says.

Last month, gunmen killed an Iraqi broadcaster in a drive-by shooting in Iraq's northern city of Mosul. At least three journalists were killed in May.

(Writing by Tim Cocks, Editing by Mariam Karouny)