IRAQ/US: The head of Reuters wrote to US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, yesterday asking for a fair and comprehensive inquiry into the killing by US troops in Iraq of the news agency's cameraman Mazen Dana.
Dana, who was buried in his home town of Hebron yesterday, became the second journalist from the international agency to be killed by US troops in Iraq in four months when a soldier on a tank shot him as he filmed in Baghdad on Sunday. Reuters chief executive, Mr Tom Glocer, joined international media organisations in urging Mr Rumsfeld to investigate the shooting and set in place new practices to avert a recurrence. The US military said the soldier mistook Dana's camera for a grenade launcher.
"Tom Glocer has written to the US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, asking for a detailed, fair and comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana," Reuters said in a statement. "He expressed his deep dismay at the death and asked that guidelines and practices are put in place to avoid any recurrence of this terrible tragedy."
Media rights organisations including the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Press Institute and Reporters Sans Frontieres have written similar letters after what has proved one of the bloodiest wars for the media. Dana, a 41-year-old Palestinian, was known for award-winning reporting from the West Bank. He was mourned by thousands who turned out for his funeral yesterday.
At least 17 other international journalists and their assistants have died during the Iraq conflict. At least five, including Dana, have been killed by American fire.
On April 8th, a US tank shell killed Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk and a cameraman from Spain's Tele 5 at Baghdad's main media centre, the Palestine Hotel.