Photographer killed, 4 journalists wounded in Abu Ghraib blast

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A photographer was killed, four journalists were wounded and a correspondent went missing in the suicide bombing that ripped through Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib area earlier today, the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) said on Tuesday. “A photographer for al-Boghdadiya TV channel, Haydar Hashem Suheil, was killed; while his colleague, Suhayb Adnan, a correspondent, was reported missing,” according to a statement released by the observatory and received by IraqiNews.com news agency. “Ibrahim al-Katib, a correspondent for al-Iraqiya TV channel, has been hospitalized and is in critical condition. He had brain surgery in al-Yarmuk Hospital. Al-Iraqiya channel staff were wounded, including Raed Qasim, a photographer, who was wounded in the head; his assistant, Ady Munthir, who was wounded in the hand; and Fawzi Aidan, a technical assistant, who was also wounded in the hand,” the statement noted. An al-Iraqiya TV photographer who survived the blast, Raed Qasim, told the observatory that a number of local and international correspondents and photographers were on the scene to cover a tribal meeting there. Qasim said that an exchange of gunfire took place between army personnel and men hidden inside nearby houses following the blast. Earlier today, a spokesperson for Baghdad’s Operations Command (BOC), Maj. Gen. Qassem Ata, said that the suicide bombing has left 28 persons dead and 28 others wounded. This afternnon, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a popular market in Abu Ghraib area, western Baghdad, targeting a meeting held by chieftains and security personnel. SS (S) 1