Tareq Ayyoub

aTareq Ayyoub (طارق ايوب) (also spelled "Tarek Ayoub", "Tarik Ayub") was an Arab television reporter of Palestinian nationality, employed by Al Jazeera, and previously by Fox News. On April 8, 2003, Ayyoub was killed when two missiles, fired from an A-10 Warthog US Fighter plane, struck the Baghdad headquarters of the Al Jazeera Satellite Channel during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

Many of the Arab reporters for Al Jazeera saw this as an intentional attack on their personnel, but the United States stated later that day that the death had been an accident, and that hostile fire had been seen originating from the Al Jazeera headquarters. There is no evidence to support this claim however, and it is much disputed because of two other incidents that occurred on the same day. First, the Abu Dhabi satellite station was hit by 'Army Fire' in a different section of Baghdad. Second, a US Tank fired shells at Palestine Hotel, killing journalists Taras Protsyuk of Reuters and Jose Couso of a Spanish TV Station.

Two days after the attacks on Al Jazeera and Abu Dhabi, the US-Britain coalition launched an Arabic speaking news channel called Nahwa Al-Hurrieh, meaning 'Toward Freedom', in Iraq.

The event, from Al Jazeera's perspective, was captured in the documentary "Control Room".

ources

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2927527.stm Al-Jazeera 'hit by missile'] BBC News, 8 April, 2003.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20050316091119/http://www.sfbg.com/wartime/fisk_journalists.html Did the US murder these Journalists?] Robert Fisk, SF Bay Guardian. April 26, 2003.
* [http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/70687 IFJ calls for re-opening of investigation into Ayyoub's death] , IFEX, November 24, 2005.
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1055684,00.html The war on al-Jazeera] Comment by Dima Tareq Tahboub, the widow of Tareq Ayyoub, The Guardian, October 4, 2003