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Al-Jazeera
correspondent Tariq Ayoub was killed on Tuesday when two US missiles
struck the Baghdad offices of the Qatar-based channel.
A Reuters reporter,
photographer TV cameraman and TV technician were also injured when a
blast hit the Palestine Meridian Hotel where at least 200 international
correspondents, including Al-Jazeera reporters, are staying in Baghdad.
"We regret to inform
you that our cameraman and correspondent Tariq Ayoub was killed this
morning during the US missile strike on our Baghdad office," the
Qatar-based channel said in a statement read out during its news
bulletin.
Another cameraman,
Zuheir Iraqi, was slightly wounded with shrapnel to his neck.
They were both
standing on the roof getting ready for a live broadcast amid
intensifying bombardment of the city when the building was hit by two
missiles, according to Tayseer Allouni, another Al Jazeera
correspondent.
Cameraman Iraqi came
down bleeding, but Ayoub did not show up. “I ran up as the shells were
still falling and crawled on the roof and shouted for Tariq, but he did
not answer,” Allouni said.
Allouni had gone down because of the intense
bombing. He later went up again and with the help of Abu Dhabi TV
correspondent, Jaber Obeid, they found Ayoub’s body.
Allouni, Jaber and others held Ayoub’s body which was covered by a
blanket and placed it in Abu Dhabi TV’s vehicle that transported it to
hospital.
Shortly afterwards, US warplanes returned to hit the neighboring Abu
Dhabi TV offices.
“It seems that we have
become a target,” said Allouni.
Another of
Jazeera's
Baghdad correspondents Majed Abdel Hadi called the U.S. missile strike
and Ayoub's death a "crime".
"I
will not be objective about this because we have been dragged into this
conflict," he said, visibly upset. "We were targeted because the
Americans don't want the world to see the crimes they are committing
against the Iraqi people."
Al-Jazeera aired
footage of Ayoub only one hour before his death as he was preparing to
go live. He was leaning on sandbags and wearing a helmet and a flack
jacket.
“I knew Tariq for 10
years ,” said Yasser Abu Hilalah, Al-Jazeera correspondent in Amman. “He
was very brave, professional and a hard worker,” he added. “Al-Jazeera
office is located in a residential area and there is no way that the
attack was a mistake.”
Ayoub. aged 35, was married with one
daughter. He traveled to Baghdad only five days ago to join the Al-Jazeera
team from the channel's Amman office where he had worked as a financial
correspondent for three years. Originally from Palestine, he had also
worked for the Jordan Times and the international news agency Associated
Press.
Earlier, Abdel-Hadi told our presenter that
Al-Jazeera office was “deliberately targeted… and it is not the first
time. Our Kabul office was hit by four (US) missiles,” he said. US
warplanes hit the Afghanistan office of Al Jazeera in 2001, just 10
minutes after its correspondents had received warning of an impending
attack.
Last week, the hotel
where Al-Jazeera correspondents in the southern Iraqi city of Basra was
also hit by four bombs that did not explode.
“Al-Jazeera team has
no role in the war. We are only witnesses and are reporting objectively.
This proves that the US is trying to cover the crime its commits in its
war on Iraq. Targeting witnesses is the biggest crime,” said Abdel-Hadi,
visibly upset.
Today's bombing left
Al Jazeera's offices a ruin. But the channel said it would continue its
coverage of the US-led war on Iraq that began on March 20. “It is
impossible to work in the office, but we will continue to cover the war
within the capabilities that we have and despite the difficult
circumstances,” Abdel-Hadi said.
Since Al Jazeera
started covering the US-led war on Iraq its Arabic and English language
websites have been attacked by what computer experts describe as
organized and systematic hacking campaign. |
