Chief journalist undergoes surgery Sunday

BAGHDAD , Sept. 21 (Iraqi News) – Mouayad al-Lami, the chairman of the Iraqi journalists’ syndicate, is undergoing a surgery on Sunday to rid him of the blood curdled in his chest as a result of a blast that targeted the syndicate building on Saturday, a journalists’ rights advocate said. “I was notified by physicians today that Lami will be operated on within the next few hours to withdraw the blood curdled in his chest,” Ibrahim al-Siraji, the head of the Iraqi Association for Defending Journalists’ Rights, told IraqiNews.com – Voices of Iraq – (Iraqi News). A blast occurred off the syndicate building in al-Waziriya neighborhood, central Baghdad , leaving five syndicate staff, including chairman Lami, wounded. He is now inside a hospital receiving treatment from wounds he sustained in the explosion. An official spokesman for the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) had said on Saturday that the bombing targeted Lami, who was at the syndicate garden when the blast occurred. A medic in Sheikh Zayed Hospital in central Baghdad had said earlier in the day that Lami’s health condition deteriorated due to complications over partial blood curdling. Baghdad ‘s population is a mix of Sunnis and Shiites. It is mainly divided into two sides: the west (al-Karkh) and the east (al-Rasafa). AmR (S) 1