Courtney C. Radsch

A time bomb was planted under the car,” Najib Bencherif, head of the assignment department, told AlArabiya.net. According the Cheriff, Hattab’s driver regularly checks under the car and noticed something strange so he called the police.

“But the police did not show up on time,” he added, since half an hour later the bomb exploded near Hattab’s home in the Al-Salihyah district of central Baghdad.


Cherif said it appeared that the assailants were familiar with Hattab’s routine and knew the car would be picking him up from his house at a given time.

The Dubai-based satellite channel said Hattab and the driver were unharmed.

Just last week an assassination attempt on a Kurdish journalist at his home left his sister dead.

The Iraqi Journalism Freedom Observatory, the main organization for the defense of media workers' rights in Iraq, estimates that at least 235 media workers have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003.