Cameraman killed by car bomb in southern city

Reporters Without Borders offers its condolences to the family of Afaq TV cameraman Salem Alwan Al-Gharabi, who was killed in a double suicide bombing in the southern city of Diwaniya yesterday. His death brought the number of media personnel killed in Iraq since the start of the year to six. According to a preliminary report by the Iraqi security services, 20 people were killed and 30 were wounded by two car bombs that were detonated outside a government compound in Diwaniya (275 km south of Baghdad) that includes the regional assembly building, the local administration and the governor’s residence. Al-Gharabi was the only working journalist known to have been among the victims. According to local witness accounts, the first suicide bomber managed to force his way through the checkpoint at the entrance to the compound before setting of the explosives in his car at around 7 am. A suicide bomber in a second car detonated his charge about half an hour later. Al-Gharabi had gone to cover the regional council’s weekly meeting. He was at the entrance to the compound when his car was destroyed by the first blast and he died on the spot. He leaves behind a wife and four children.