- Title: UAE: Al Arabiya newsroom reacts to kidnapping of their Iraqi correspondent.
- Date: 24th February 2006
- Summary: WIDE OF JOURNALISTS IN NEWSROOM
- Embargoed: 11th March 2006 12:00
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- Topics: International Relations,Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
- Reuters ID: LVAA4P4PJB5DGIRW4QSF79EXR9HG
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- Story Text: Gunmen kidnapped and then killed Atwar Bahjat, a correspondent for Al Arabiya television and two members of her crew in Iraq on Wednesday (February 22) night, adding to the death toll of journalists stationed in Iraq.
As has been the case with many media outlets, Al Arabiya has lost journalists in Iraq throughout the past few years and this has proved to be frustrating for the channel: "We feel very angry. We feel that media perhaps should be protected much more. I'm not so sure that anybody could have done anything about the murder of Atwar and our other two colleagues last night. But nevertheless, I mean we cannot underestimate the depth of sadness that we feel fro the whole event" said Jihad Ballout, Al Arabiya's director of corporate communication.
The station was said to have lost contact with the correspondent and her three-man team late on Wednesday after they had left the Iraqi city of Samarra. Bahjat was last seen live on Al Arabiya on Wednesday between 14 and 15 GMT.
Police found the bodies after being tipped off by one of the men who managed to escape. Al Arabiya named the dead journalists as cameraman Adnan Abdullah and soundman Khaled Mohsen and said they worked for an Iraqi production house.
It was not clear if the journalists' death was related to Wednesday's bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra, which has triggered revenge attacks on Arab Sunnis and their mosques. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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