Arab news service al-Jazeera television today said that o­ne of its journalists was killed and another wounded when a US missile hit it's Baghdad office

According to BBC News o­nline , al-Jazeera 's Baghdad correspondent Maher Abdullah said the missile strike destroyed an electricity generator and set fire to the office.

News announcers named the dead man as Tarek Ayoub ( photo ), and the injured man as Zohair al-Iraqi.

But BBC said that according to a US Central Command spokesman the station "was not and never had been a target", although US military officials were looking into the incident.

Camera position under attack

The Qatar-based network - dubbed the 'Arab CNN' - has come under intense criticism in London, Washington and Baghdad with its no-holds-barred coverage of the war in Iraq.

But it remains the news source of choice in 35 million Arab-speaking homes around the world.

BBC

said that al-Jazeera 's Baghdad office is near the Iraqi Information Ministry but its correspondents are thought to conduct their live reports from a location near the Palestine Hotel, where many journalists are staying.

"We were caught by surprise," Maher was quoted as saying. "One missile hit the pavement in front of us, ripping out windows and doors and then o­ne hit the generator."

BBC

also reported that rival satellite station Abu Dhabi TV also announced its Baghdad bureau had been hit and broadcast a live report showing its camera position under attack.

Footage from Abu Dhabi TV also showed a fire blazing in the al-Jazeera office.

Al-Jazeera

TV crew were seen carrying a wounded colleague into an Abu Dhabi TV car.

Websites hacked

According to CNN , Tariq was carried along the street in a blanket before being placed in the back of an Abu Dhabi TV vehicle and being rushed off for medical treatment.

An Al-Jazeera reporter o­n-air said he felt, as did his colleagues, the US strike was a deliberate attack against the network, since two missiles hit the building and that the raid happened at about the same time Abu Dhabi TV offices were hit.

The reporter said he felt this was an attempt to shoot and silence the people who are witnessing crimes against the Iraqi people.

Today's bombing left al-Jazeera' s offices a ruin. But the channel said it would continue its coverage of the US-led war o­n Iraq that began o­n March 20.

Since al-Jazeera started covering the US-led war o­n Iraq its Arabic and English language websites have also been attacked by what computer experts describe as organised and systematic hacking campaign.

Al-Jazeera

's office was o­ne of the first targets hit in Kabul when US-backed Northern Alliance fighters routed the Taliban in the Afghan capital.

Journalists injured in hotel attack

Meanwhile the London Guardian reported that four Reuters journalists including a TV cameraman, a technician and two others working at the Palestine hotel in Baghdad, were injured when the hotel came under attack from US forces.

The hotel has been the de facto press centre for the past three weeks and is home to dozens of journalist from newspapers and television.

The Guardian quoted Sky News ' Baghdad correspondent David Chater as saying that he was just about to do a piece to camera when an incredible explosion ripped through the building.

"I do remember looking across at that tank. It might not have been trying to hit that hotel but it has grazed the side of it. It might have been trying to hit a target behind the hotel. Journalists realised that they are very vulnerable.

"There have been tank shells landing either side of the hotel most of the morning and most of the day and indeed most of the night.

"The whole hotel shook with the impact. It was an incredible sound. And all the more alarming because I was just about to stand up to do my piece to camera."

It is not clear whether the Palestine hotel had been hit by bombs dropped by coalition planes, or artillery or tank fire from US forces in Baghdad, according to Sky News .