Gunmen kidnapped and shot dead four staff members from Iraq's Sharqia TV station in the volatile northern city of Mosul on Saturday, the station and police said.

The four went missing in the early hours and police said they recovered their bodies bearing gunshot wounds on the western side of Mosul.

A source from the popular Dubai-based Iraqi TV channel, who declined to be named until it makes an official statement, confirmed that four staff had been killed in Mosul but said she could not yet give further details.

Al Qaeda and other insurgent groups still roam the northern Iraqi city, which is struggling to shake off a determined insurgency as much of the rest of Iraq enjoys better security.

Iraq is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, according to the New York-based watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Around 130 reporters and 50 media assistants have been killed since the US-led invasion in 2003, it says. In July, gunmen shot dead an Iraqi journalist working for a Kurdish magazine in the northern city of Kirkuk.

In June, gunmen killed an Iraqi broadcaster in a drive-by shooting in Mosul. At least three journalists were killed in May. - Reuters