Nasrat, a news anchor working for the Coalition Provisional Authority’s
Iraq Media Network (IMN), was killed in the town of Baqouba when unidentified
armed assailants opened fire on a bus carrying several employees of
the IMN’s Diyala Media Centre. Diyala Media Centre produced the IMN’s
Diyala TV, a local television station. The interim Iraqi government
later took over the IMN as part of its public broadcasting network.
Technician Najeed Rashid and security guard Muhammad Ahmad Sarham
were also killed in the attack, according to Charlie Reiser, the U.S.
Army spokesman in Diyala. Ten others were seriously injured.
The bus was transporting employees to the media center when a car
carrying three men approached and overtook the bus as it approached
the station’s entry from the
main highway, Reiser said. The assailants opened fire before fleeing
the scene.
Reiser said the employees “were targeted because of their affiliation
with the Coalition Forces.”