BAGHDAD, June 28 (Reuters) - Iraq on Wednesday accused al Qaeda militants of killing a correspondent for the al Arabiya satellite channel in February.
Atwar Bahjat disappeared with her cameraman Khaled Al Falahi and soundman Adnan Khairallah near Samarra as she reported on a bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in the town on Feb. 22. Their bodies were found the following morning.
Iraq's National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told a news conference that a recently captured Tunisian militant confessed to bombing the shrine and killing Bahjat with the help of al Qaeda's leader in Salahaddin province, Haitham al-Badri.
"Abu Qadama, the Tunisian confessed to many crimes, including the killing of the martyred Iraqi journalist Atwar Bahjat when she was followed by Haitham al-Badri inside a petrol station," he said.
"Haitham al-Badri captured her and carried out the killing himself," he added.
Bahjat's killing in her hometown of Samarra triggered an outcry among Iraqi journalists.
More than 70 foreign and Iraqi journalists have been reported killed since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
