Abdul-Rahman al-Essawi was killed Monday when gunmen broke into his home about 10 miles west of Fallujah, a former insurgent stronghold in Anbar province.

Al-Essawi was shot to death along with his wife, son, parents and three other relatives, said Dr. Anas al-Rawi of Fallujah General Hospital where they bodies were taken.

Other family members told an Associated Press reporter in Fallujah that al-Essawi was working as a reporter the online NINA news agency and as the media representative of Anbar Salvation Council. The council was formed recently among Sunni tribes in Anbar to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.

In Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, gunmen mowed down Nazar Abdul-Wahid as he stood on a city street Wednesday, according to a police official in the city who refused to give his name for fear of retribution from militants.

Abdul-Wahid worked as a reporter for several Iraqi newspapers and the Voices of Iraq Internet news agency.

The 33-year-old father of two was standing on the sidewalk in central Amarah when gunmen in a pickup truck shot him to death, police said.

Abdul-Wahid also was chairman of a non-governmental organization for young journalists that is funded by the Iraqi government.

Journalists have been frequently targeted by violence in Iraq. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said 104 journalists and 39 media support workers have been killed and 48 journalists have been abducted since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, making it the deadliest conflict for the media in CPJ's 25-year history.

Of the 104 journalists killed, 82 were Iraqi, as were 38 of the 39 media support staff killed, according to CPJ.

The numbers include ABC cameraman Alaa Uldeen Aziz, 33, and the network's sound technician Saif Laith Yousuf, 26, who were killed as they traveled home from the network's Baghdad bureau May 17.