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Atwar Bahjat (1976(?) – 22 February 2006) was an Iraqi journalist and reporter for al-Arabiya television at the time of her death. She had previously worked for al-Jazeera. In the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq War she became one of the most familiar faces on Arabic-language satellite television.
Bahjat came from an religious diverse background, having a Shia mother and a Sunni father. She was an observant Sunni Muslim.
Bahjat was abducted and killed in Samarra in the aftermath of the 22 February, 2006, bomb attack that devastated the Al Askari Mosque. Her cameraman, Khaled Mahmoud Al Falahi (39) and a technician Adnan Khairallah (36) also were killed. A fourth member of the team managed to escape the ambush.
Her team was surrounded by a crowd of civilians but, according to the surviving crew member, two armed men fired shots in the air, dispersing the crowd. One of the armed men shouted, "We want the anchorwoman." Bahjat cried for help from the crowd but to no avail. Members of her news crew tried to dissuade the gunmen but they were captured and two of them were also killed.
On Saturday, February 25, her funeral procession was attacked twice, first by gunmen who opened fire on mourners and later by a roadside bomb that targeted the funeral cortege as it returned from the cemetary. At least three security personnel were killed in the attacks on her funeral and four people were injured.
External links
- Shock over Iraqi reporter's death (BBC)
- Arab TV journalists killed in Iraq (CNN)
- Gunmen fire on funeral of Al-Arabiya newswoman (Ireland On-Line)
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