Reporter in Iraq unhurt by blast

An American journalist for National Public Radio and three Iraqi colleagues escaped injury Sunday when a bomb attached to their car exploded as it was parked along a street in west Baghdad.

Ivan Watson, a 33-year-old reporter for NPR on temporary assignment in Iraq, said he had gone to interview people in a cafe a few yards from an Iraqi army checkpoint.

Watson, who is normally based in Istanbul, Turkey, was accompanied by producer and translator Ali Hamdani and two drivers.

The four returned to their armored car about 45 minutes later, but were stopped by Iraqi soldiers who said they had been informed minutes earlier that a bomb was attached to the car, Watson said.

The bomb, which had been placed underneath the driver’s side, exploded about 15 feet from Watson’s group. It destroyed the car but nobody was injured, according to NPR.

Iraqi and American soldiers who cordoned off the area said the bomb may have been detonated by remote control.

The Iraqi soldiers said they had arrested a suspect, an egg vendor with suspected family connections to a member of the insurgent group Al Qaeda in Iraq.

In a statement issued in Washington, National Public Radio expressed gratitude for the “swift actions by Iraqi authorities” in warning its employees about the bomb and preventing them from entering the vehicle.