By Monther Hamad Zahi

Baghdad, Jan 1, (VOI) - Iraqi army and police forces thoroughly searched the central Baghdad Palestine Hotel, where some Arab and foreign journalists are headquartered, upon a tip about a gunman's infiltration, a hotel source said on Monday. "The tip held that the gunman was holding a bag suspected of having contained explosives," the source, who declined to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone. The source added "the gunman was seen by a journalist inside the hotel lift." He said "security forces asked the hotel guests to stay inside their rooms and they were not allowed outside throughout the search campaign." The source did not say whether or not the suspected gunman was arrested.