Iraqi TV station says U.S. troops killed cameraman ("killed by an American sniper")

Iraqi TV station says U.S. troops killed cameraman
22 May 2008 15:01:07 GMT
(Updates details, U.S. spokesman comment)
By Aseel Kami and Khalid al-Ansary

BAGHDAD, May 22 (Reuters) - An Iraqi television station accused U.S. troops on Thursday of shooting dead one of its cameramen as he walked to his Baghdad home.

The body of a second journalist, Haidar Hashim al-Husseini, a reporter for al-Sharq newspaper, was found dumped in a field with nine other corpses in Diyala province, police and colleagues said.

A spokeswoman for the Afaq television channel said cameraman Wisam Ali Ouda was shot dead by U.S. soldiers in eastern Baghdad's Obaidi district at around 5pm on Wednesday.

"We confirm one of our employees was killed by an American sniper," said Bushra Abdul-Amir, head of public relations at the station. She added that witnesses had given testimony to the station's managers.

Hadi Jalu, deputy director of Iraq's Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, said he had also interviewed witnesses on the scene who had corroborated this, without saying how many. "They all said an American soldier killed him," he said.