The governor of Iraq's Salahuddin province said a journalist from a local television network has been killed by the Islamic State group, the Associated Press reported.

Governor Raed Ibrahim says Raad al-Azzawi, who was a cameraman for Iraq's Salahuddin Television, was killed by militants on Friday in the city of Tikrit. Ibrahim said he wasn't able to provide any further details.

The Islamic State group, which holds large swaths of land stretching across the Iraq-Syria border, has beheaded a number of journalists in Syria, saying the killings are in retaliation to U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.

Reporters Without Borders said last month that the militants had threatened to execute al-Azzawi, a father of three, for refusing to join the Sunni militant group.

The media watchdog said al-Azzawi was abducted on Sept 7.