Blast hits headquarters of English-language weekly

Reporters Without Borders today firmly condemned an explosion yesterday at the headquarters of the Baghdad Mirror, an English-language weekly that is funded by the US army. The explosion, which the authorities subsequently attributed to a mortar shell, damaged the newspaper's offices but caused no injuries. "We call on the Iraqi authorities to conduct a thorough investigation in order to identify and punish those responsible for this attack," the press freedom organization said, stressing that it was "extremely concerned" about recent attacks targeting journalists. "Four journalists have been killed in Iraq since the start of the year, five have been kidnapped and one narrowly escaped a kidnapping attempt," Reporters Without Borders said, adding that, "fortunately there were no victims from yesterday's attack." Yesterday's explosion at the Baghdad Mirror occurred at midday. The newspaper is located in a house in the centre of Baghdad, near the Hotel Méridien, where most foreign journalists stay. It covers the activities of the coalition forces and is distributed free of charge on the streets of the capital. Iraq continues to be the world's most dangerous country for the press, with 51 journalists and media assistants killed since the start of the war in March 2003.