A news photographer was killed while covering fighting between Kurdish security forces and ISIL terrorists in northern Iraq on Thursday, medical and security sources said.

A news photographer was killed while covering fighting between Kurdish security forces and ISIL terrorists in northern Iraq on Thursday, medical and security sources said.

Kamran Najm Ibrahim died and 14 Kurdish security personnel were wounded in the clashes west of the oil city of Kirkuk.

Ibrahim, a well-known freelance photographer, was the first journalist to lose his life covering a major offensive spearheaded by terrorist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which began late on Monday.