BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces Thursday found the body of a local journalist in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

The body of Samir Ali Shgara, a cameraman assistant who worked for U.S.-based al-Hurra Iraq, an Arabic-language satellite TV channel, was found dumped near al-Qanat Street with bullet holes in his head, the source said.

According to figures of the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate, some 500 Iraqi journalists have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Iraq is considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists who have been frequently targeted following the chaos and insecurity unleashed by the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.