Xinhua delivered its two highest awards, respectively granted by the president and editor-in-chief of the news agency, via the Middle East Regional Bureau, to Ahmad, who said, "I only have done my duties and the success is made together by other Xinhua staff and me."

The United States launched military attacks against Iraq at 05:30 a.m. local time (0230 GMT). Ahmad, an Iraqi in Baghdad, quickly reported this news to the Middle East Regional Bureau of Xinhua in Cairo, which then released the story at 04:33 am local time (0233 GMT), faster than all the other news agencies in the world.

The 45-year-old Ahmad has been working for the Chinese news agency since August 2002 and has filed quite a few valuable stories about the situation in Iraq after his Chinese colleagues evacuated from the country on March 17.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2003)