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KIRKUK, Iraq, May 9 (Reuters) - Three Iraqi journalists and their driver were dragged from their car, tortured and then shot dead near the northern city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, police said.

The bodies of the four men all bore deep slash marks across their faces and limbs, television pictures showed.

Police earlier said all four were journalists.

They said one of the men was the well-known director of a local media organisation which publishes several newspapers. They said gunmen intercepted the journalists southwest of Kirkuk near the small town of Rashad.

Police said they believed the attack was prompted because the men were journalists. They were on a private journey to Rashad at the time, police said.

Iraq is the most dangerous country in the world for reporters. The Vienna-based International Press Institute said in April that 46 journalists were killed last year in the country, of whom 44 were Iraqis.

On Sunday, a Russian freelance photographer was killed in a roadside bomb attack north of Baghdad while on patrol with U.S. forces. Six soldiers were also killed in that attack.

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