Baghdad Hotel bomb

A few hours ago there was a suicide car bombing at the Baghdad Hotel, which is about 300 meters away from my hotel. At the time of the bomb I was miles away (meeting with the finance minister Kamil Al-Gailani) and only heard about it when a friend sent a text message from Britain. It's rather strange that I'm sitting in my hotel, just around the corner and a stone's throw from the explosion, and am actually learning the facts from Satalite TV and on the internet, not from direct observation. I don't want to go and gawp at people's suffering, and anyway I think the road is closed with tanks now.

This is another dreadful event; apparently at least seven people have been killed, all of them Iraqis I believe. Please pray for the injured and the families of those killed, and for peace and security in Iraq.

To my family, please don't worry - I'm staying at a hotel with few westerners which is therefore highly unlikely to be a target, and anyway I am usually away during the day when these bombings tend to happen.