Mohammed Bdaiwi Owaid Al-Shammari shot and killed
Dr. Mohammed Bdaiwi Owaid Al-Shammari, the Baghdad bureau chief of RFE/RL’s Iraq Service, Radio Free Iraq (RFI), was shot and killed at a checkpoint near his office the morning of March 22. Witnesses say an Iraqi presidential guard shot Al-Shammari at the gate of the compound housing his office after the two men exchanged words over whose vehicle should pass through the checkpoint first. After the shooting, the officer fled.