Free Republic

EVEN by the stupefying standards of Iraq’s unspeakable violence, the murder of Atwar Bahjat, one of the country’s top television journalists, was an act of exceptional cruelty.Nobody but her killers knew just how much she had suffered until a film showing her death on February 22 at the hands of two musclebound men in military uniforms emerged last week. Her family’s worst fears of what might have happened have been far exceeded by the reality. Bahjat was abducted after making three live broadcasts from the edge of her native city of Samarra on the day its golden-domed Shi’ite mosque was...

Arrests in Iraq reporter killings Atwar Bahjat had only recently starting working for al-Arabiya Six men have been arrested in Iraq on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a female journalist and her crew from the al-Arabiya television network. Iraqi Defence Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi said the arrests were made in the course of Operation Swarmer, a US-led offensive north of Samarra. Atwar Bahjat, her cameraman and soundman were seized by gunmen and shot dead near Samarra in February. They were reporting on the bombing of the al-Askari shrine in the city. The bombing led to an upsurge in sectarian...

Shock over Iraqi reporter's death The killing of Atwar Bahjat, who rose to fame reporting from Iraq for both main Arabic satellite news networks, has shocked Arab journalistic circles. Gunmen kidnapped and killed her and two members of her crew near Samarra where they had gone to cover reaction to Wednesday's shrine bombing. A member of the al-Arabiya TV team who escaped described how two gunmen showed up as they stood in a crowd of Iraqis. They dragged Bahjat and her colleagues away and shot them. Their bodies were found on the outskirts of Samarra, an area racked by sectarian...