Two Japanese freelance journalists died after their vehicle was attacked by unidentified assailants in the city of Mahmudiyah, about 30 km south of Baghdad, a Foreign Ministry official in Tokyo quoted Iraqi hospital officials as saying Friday.

Freelance journalists Shinsuke Hashida, 61, and his nephew Kotaro Ogawa, 33, were heading to Baghdad by car when another vehicle approached from behind and they were fired upon, the official said.

Hashida was a resident of Bangkok, while Ogawa lived in Tottori Prefecture. Both were natives of Yamaguchi Prefecture.