The bodies of correspondent Atwar Bahjat, cameraman Khaled Mahmoud al-Falahi,
and engineer Adnan Khairallah were found near Samarra, a day after the station
lost contact with the crew, editors at Al-Arabiya told CPJ. Bahjat, 30, was a
well-known on-air figure. Al-Arabiya said she had recently joined the channel
after working as a correspondent for the Arabic satellite channel
Al-Jazeera.
Al-Falahi, 39, and
Khairallah, 36, were employees of Wasan Productions who were on
assignment for Al-Arabiya. The crew was on the outskirts of the city
covering the bombing of the Shiite shrine Askariya, also known as the
Golden Mosque.
Al-Arabiya Executive Editor Nabil Khatib said the station lost phone
contact with the crew on the evening of February 22. A fixer for Wasan
Productions told the station later that armed men driving a white car
had attacked the crew after demanding to know the whereabouts of the
on-air correspondent.