A bomb at a hotel in central Baghdad housing staff of the United States television network NBC killed a maintenance worker early on Thursday in what police called the first such attack aimed at foreign journalists in the city.
Witnesses said two other people, including an NBC sound man, were wounded by the explosive device placed by a generator on the sidewalk outside the Aike hotel. Their conditions were not immediately known.
Police official Karim Mariush said the blast killed a Somali maintenenance man who worked at the three-storey Aike hotel located on the corner of al-Hindi street, one of the main thoroughfares in central Baghdad.
Iraq has been hit by a series of bomb attacks since US forces deposed Saddam Hussein in April. But Police Lieutenant Colonel Kareen Salman said the blast on Thursday was the ”first [bomb] attack targeting foreign [journalists]”.
”We have the Facilities Protection Service to protect them but they [the hotel] did not ask for them,” Salman said.
There was no word on who set off the blast that damaged the generator and shattered windows at the hotel and nearby buildings.
Occupants were evacuated and the area was patrolled by Iraqi police and US soldiers.
David Moodie (44), a Canadian who works as a sound man for NBC, had a cut on his arm from the blast, and said no other staffer of the network was hurt.
The bomb at the hotel surprised Moodie, who said that ”we were fairly anonymous here”.
Asked if NBC would pull out, he said that was up to the London offices of the network and added: ”I’ll get some stitches and probably stay.” — Sapa-AFP