(adds official Sharqia statement, details, reaction)

BAGHDAD, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped and shot dead four Iraqi staff members of Iraq's Sharqia TV station in the volatile northern city of Mosul on Saturday, the station and police said.

"Today at noon, armed people kidnapped and killed four of our workers in the channel. They were doing their national duty recording an episode in Mosul," the independent station said in a statement read out by one of its presenters.

It said that the dead were its chief Mosul correspondent Musab Mahmoud al-Azawi, two cameramen and a driver.

"The staff of this channel, whose hearts are full of mourning today, confirm our determination to go ahead with its independent work," the statement 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.

They had been preparing to film a programme on charity for the poor during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Al Qaeda and other insurgent groups still roam Mosul, 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.

Around 130 reporters and 50 media assistants have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, it says. It also says Iraq has the worst record for failing to solve murders of journalists, with around 80 unsolved killings.

"Since there is no real concern from the government against those who target and kill journalists, these crimes are going to continue," Ibrahim al-Saraj, head of the Iraqi Journalists Rights' Defence Association told Reuters.

"There is no real investigation of these crimes," he said.

In July, gunmen shot dead an Iraqi journalist working for a Kurdish magazine in the northern city of Kirkuk and in June, an Iraqi broadcaster died in a drive-by shooting in Mosul.

At least three journalists were killed in Iraq in May. (Reporting by Waleed Ibrahim and Aws Qusay; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Mariam Karouny))

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