A group of Al Qaeda-linked militants claimed responsibility for carrying out the attack on an Iraq television news station that killed five journalists and injured five other employees, Al Jazeera reported.
The group posted in an online forum on Tuesday that they "attacked "the headquarters of the Salaheddin satellite (channel) which... distorts the facts and fights the Sunni people" at the order of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's "war ministry."
Though the militants said only two fighters were responsible for the attack, police claim there were four suicide bombers responsible for the assault on the station's headquarters in Tikrit, north of Baghdad.
The attack killed the chief news editor, a copy editor, a producer, a presenter, and the archives manager and wounded five other employees as well.
According to Al Jazeera, Iraq has had a growing issue with violence against journalists, this attack being the 12th one since October.
I am increasingly and gravely concerned about the targeting of journalists by terrorist elements during the past few weeks," said United Nations envoy Nickolay Mladenov in a statement on Tuesday.
"This latest blatant act of terrorism at the Tikrit television station should be properly investigated and measures taken to prevent such heinous acts in future. I call upon the Iraqi government and (parliament) to ensure that adequate protection is provided to journalists and media outlets in Iraq."
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad also condemned the attack on the station.
"This is the latest of several recent attempts by the so-called Al-Qaeda in Iraq organisation to intimidate journalists and other members of the media," the embassy said.
Additionally, AFP reported that more than 6,650 people died in Iraq since the beginning of the year.
