Three Indians are among a total of150 journalists who were killed last year in wars, assassinations, natural disasters and accidents while on duty, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said.

The year was the worst on record for an increasingly dangerous profession, the IFJ said on January 23 in a statement released in Sydney to accompany its annual report for 2005.

Of the total, 89 were killed "in the line of duty" --many singled out for assassination by killers working for political extremists, paramilitary forces or criminals.

The other 61 died when disaster struck while on assignment -- 48 of them in a military plane crash in Iran, and three in the massive earthquake that struck South Asia.

War-torn Iraq accounted for the deaths of 35 Journalists.

The Philippines was the second most dangerous country in the world for media workers, accounting for 10 of the total of 36 deaths in the Asia-pacific region.

In South Asia, journalists were killed in Afghanistan(2), Bangladesh (3), India (3), Pakistan (6), Sri Lanka (4) and Nepal (2).

"2005 was a year of tragedy and the targeting of journalists in the Asia-pacific region," said IFJ President Christopher Warren.

Fewer than 10 per cent of the cases of deliberate killings of journalists resulted in serious investigations by the authorities, the IFJ said, with only a handful of killers ever brought to trial.

A combination of police corruption, judicial incompetence and political indifference created a culture of neglect over media deaths, the report said.

( www.financialexpress.com)