Kaset Puengpak, a stringer for the Thai-language newspaper Thai Rath, was shot dead in Viset Chaichan District, Ang Thong Province. Kaset was known for his reporting on local drug gangs linked to powerful politicians and police officers, according to Thai Rath and several Thai journalists. The Thai Journalists Association issued a statement saying that Kaset was likely murdered for his journalistic work. After the killing, police interrogated a police corporal who had quarreled with Kaset over law enforcement issues in the area. No arrests have been reported in the case.
UKRAINE: 1
Igor Aleksandrov, 45-year-old director of the independent Television Company Tor, died from injuries suffered when unknown attackers beat him with clubs as he entered his offices. Aleksandrov's colleagues believe the murder was connected to his television program, "Bez Retushi" ("Without Censorship"), which featured investigative coverage of government corruption and organized crime. The program frequently criticized Slavyansk municipal authorities.
UNITED KINGDOM: 1
Martin O'Hagan, 51-year-old was shot several times from a passing car while walking home from a pub with his wife, who was not hurt in the attack. O'Hagan was an Irish Catholic journalist, known for his reporting on the criminal activities of Protestant and Catholic paramilitary groups. Suspects in the attack include the Loyalist Volunteer Force, about which O'Hagan had written recently, and the Red Hand Defenders, which claimed responsibility for the slaying in a phone call to the BBC.
UNITED STATES: 2
William Biggart, an American free-lance news photographer, was killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The journalist's body was found on September 15 in the rubble at Ground Zero near the bodies of several firefighters. Biggart had rushed to the scene with his camera shortly after hearing about the attacks.
Robert Stevens, 63-year-old a photo editor at the tabloid newspaper The Sun, died of anthrax inhalation in Boca Raton, Florida. Authorities opened a criminal investigation into the killing but have not determined where the anthrax came from. However, officials did confirm that the type of anthrax that killed Stevens is the same strain that was mailed to NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw.
YUGOSLAVIA: 2
Kerem Lawton, 30-year-old British national and producer for Associated Press Television News, died from shrapnel wounds sustained when an artillery shell struck his car. Both Macedonian military officials and ethnic Albanian insurgents denied responsibility for Lawton's death.
Milan Pantic, a reporter for the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti, was killed as he was entering his apartment building. The 47-year-old journalist worked as the Vecernje Novosti correspondent for the Pomoravlje region of central Serbia. He reported extensively on criminal affairs, including corruption in local companies. His wife, Zivka Pantic, told Vecernje Novosti that Pantic had received numerous telephone threats in response to articles he had written.
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