A female reporter and anchor Shifa Gardi killed by roadsid bomb

Rudaw channel says roadside bomb explosion kills its 
reporter Shifa Gardi and wounds cameraman Younis Mustafa.

A female reporter working for an Iraqi Kurdish channel 
has been killed in a roadside bomb attack while covering clashes between Iraqi government forces and ISIL in Mosul.

Killed on Saturday, 30-year-old Shifa Gardi was a
 presenter and chief of output at Rudaw, a media group
 in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region funded by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

"Prominent Rudaw war reporter and journalist Shifa Gardi 
has been killed in Mosul as she covered clashes," Rudaw 
said on social media.

"Rudaw loses one of its most prominent journalists in 
Mosul today."

"[She] was killed on Saturday in a roadside bomb explosion 
in Mosul," a statement posted to Rudaw's website said.

"Gardi was one of Rudaw's most daring journalists."

Her cameraman, Younis Mustafa, was wounded in the attack.

He was transferred to Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan region,

where Rudaw is headquartered.

Gardi was presenting a daily special programme on the 
Mosul offensive.

On February 21, Gardi saved a wounded rabbit in the
 village of Albu Saif, Rudaw said, citing the moment she returned to the newsroom with the animal in her arms.

The military operation to retake Iraq's second-largest city 
from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group 
was officially launched in October last year, and in January 
its eastern half was declared " fully liberated".

A number of journalists have been injured in the Mosul
operation . In October, an Iraqi television journalist was killed
covering the battle.

Mosul is ISIL's last major urban stronghold in Iraq, but
 the battle to retake its western half is expected to be the 
most challenging yet, since the streets are older, narrower
 and it is densely populated with an estimated 750,000 civilians trapped in the area.