26/07/2010 At least four people were killed and other ten were injured on Monday when a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle by the Baghdad offices of Al-Arabiya television, just a month after officials warned the Saudi-funded channel of threats of insurgent attack.
The bomber struck at around 9:00 am (0600 GMT) in front of the station's bureau in the city center, wounding 16 people according to an interior ministry official, and sending a plume of smoke into the air that could be seen from several kilometers away.
"The office is badly damaged and there is a large crater in front of it," an Al-Arabiya staffer told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The journalist added that of the people killed, two had been identified as a security guard and a female office assistant.
Al-Arabiya closed its Baghdad office in June citing government warnings of a threat of insurgent attack.
"Interior ministry sources told us they had information that terrorist groups were closely watching the bureau in preparation for an attack," an Al-Arabiya journalist told AFP at the time, asking not to be identified.
"The management asked all staff -- journalists and technicians -- not to come to work."
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