Two people were killed and 20 others wounded when a car bomb was detonated in the parking area of the state-owned Iraqi daily Al-Sabah in Baghdad. The explosion took place at about 9am on Sunday and destroyed nearly 20 cars owned by the newspaper's staff, agencies reported.
The blast demolished the facade of the newspaper's production department, witnesses told Reuters. Two cars were blown through one wall by the force of the huge explosion, which left a score of vehicles crumpled, blackened wrecks.
It was the second car bomb attack on the newspaper this year. At least one person was killed in an explosion on May 7.
A Sabah journalist told Reuters that the main newsroom had also been damaged in Sunday's attack and it was not clear whether the newspaper, based in Baghdad's northern Waziriya district, would be able to publish on Monday. "We are going home now and will wait for a signal from our editor in chief," the journalist said.
Al-Sabah, or "The Morning", newspaper is part of the US-funded Iraqi Media Network, which also runs Iraqiya state television. Insurgents fighting to topple the US-backed Shi'ite-led government of national unity often target journalists working for state media.
Police said the car bomb had been parked outside the building, but people at the scene spoke of a suicide bomber who had detonated his explosives after driving into the car park. US soldiers were on the scene as firemen picked their way through twisted metal and rubble, the Reuters report said.
Karim al-Rubaiya, head of the newspaper's technical department, said: "Thank God the blast took place early in the day. There were fewer casualties as many employees had not reached the office yet. Part of the building collapsed."
If journalists in Iraq are not killed, they are abducted. Seif Abd al-Jabbar al-Tamimi, an editor for Al-Akha’ newspaper, which is affiliated with the Iraqi National Turkoman Party, was seized on August 15 in Baghdad’s al-Adil neighbourhood, according to Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, an Iraqi press freedom organisation run by local journalists. The abductors, driving an Opel car, sped west of Baghdad with al-Tamimi.
It remains unclear why al-Tamimi was kidnapped and no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction. The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is investigating to determine whether the abduction is related to journalism.
“We call for the immediate release of Seif Abd al-Jabbar al-Tamimi,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said.
Armed groups have kidnapped at least 39 other journalists in Iraq since April 2004, when insurgents began targeting foreigners for abduction, CPJ research shows. Journalists Marwan Ghazal and Reem Zaeed, from the privately owned television station Samaria TV, were taken by gunmen in Baghdad’s Yarmouk district on February 1, and remain missing. The other journalists were eventually freed, but six were killed.
This year alone there have been five cases prior to al-Tamimi's abduction.
Jill Carroll, an American freelancer on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor, was seized January 7 by unidentified gunmen in the Adil neighbourhood of western Baghdad with her interpreter, Allan Enwiyah. Enwiyah's body was later found in the same neighbourhood with two bullets to the head, the Boston-based daily said, citing law enforcement officials. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abductions and killing.
The kidnapping occurred after Carroll was leaving the office of Adnan al-Dulaimi, a prominent Sunni politician, the Monitor reported. Carroll had intended to interview Al-Dulaimi who was not available. The gunmen intercepted Carroll's car as it left the office, commandeered the vehicle with Carroll and Enwiyah inside, and sped away.
Carroll worked in Iraq since October 2003 and contributed articles to the Monitor regularly since February 2004, the newspaper said. In Baghdad, Carroll also worked for the Italian news agency ANSA, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other US dailies. She had previously worked as a reporter for The Jordan Times in Amman. She was released unharmed after nearly three months.
Marwan Ghazal and Reem Zaeed, from the privately owned television station Samaria TV, were abducted February 1 by gunmen in Baghdad's Yarmouk district after covering a meeting at the offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party, the Associated Press reported, citing a cameraman working for the station. The cameraman said two other journalists were briefly seized but released. An Iraqi police official told the AP that the journalists were driving away from the offices when they were stopped by six armed men traveling in two cars. There was no claim of responsibility.
Ali Fayyad, a reporter for the Baghdad-based newspaper As-Saffir, was kidnapped by an armed gang March 16 as he was leaving his paper’s offices in Alsaa’don Street in Baghdad, according to local CPJ sources. The abductors demanded US$30,000 from his family to secure his release. Ali Fayyad used to report for the now-defunct Iraqi daily Sada Wasit, a local newspaper in the southern city of Kut. Fayyad was released on April 3.
Laith al-Dulaimi, a reporter for the privately owned TV station Al-Nahrain, and Muazaz Ahmed Barood, a telephone operator for the station, were kidnapped May 8 by men disguised as police officers at Diyala Bridge while driving home to Mada’in, a town 12 miles (19 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Abdulkarim al-Mehdawi. Their bodies were discovered at al-Wihda district, 20 miles (32 kilometres) south of Baghdad. Both men, in their late 20s, were shot in the chest, al-Mehdawi told CPJ.
