Reuters news agency has called on the UnitedStates to launch a comprehensive investigation intoyesterday's killing of one its cameramen by US troops in Iraq.
Noting that Mr Mazen Dana was the second Reuters journalistkilled by US soldiers in Baghdad in four months, ChiefExecutive Mr Tom Glocer said: "This latest death is hard to bear.That's why I am personally calling upon the highest levels ofthe US government for a full and comprehensive investigationinto this terrible tragedy."
US troops have shot dead an award-winning Reuters cameraman while he was filming near a US-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.
Witnesses said soldiers on a US tank shot at Mazen Dana (43) as he filmed outside Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad, which had earlier come under a mortar attack.
Mr Dana's last pictures show a US tank driving towards him outside the prison walls. Several shots ring out from the tank, and Dana's camera falls to the ground.
The US military acknowledged yesterday that its troops had "engaged" a Reuters cameraman, saying they had thought his camera was a rocket propelled grenade launcher.
Journalists had gone to the prison after the US military said a mortar bomb attack there a day before had killed six Iraqis and wounded 59 others.
Recounting the moments before the shooting, Reuters soundman Mr Nael al-Shyoukhi, who was working with Mr Dana, said he had asked a US soldier near the prison if they could speak to an officer and was told they could not.
"They saw us and they knew about our identities and our mission," Mr Shyoukhi said. The incident happened in the afternoon in daylight.
The soldier agreed to their request to film an overview of the prison from a bridge nearby.
"After we filmed we went into the car and prepared to go when a convoy led by a tank arrived and Mazen stepped out of the car to film. I followed him and Mazen walked three to four metres. We were noted and seen clearly," Mr Shyoukhi said.
"A soldier on the tank shot at us. I lay on the ground. I heard Mazen and I saw him scream and touching his chest.
"They [US soldiers] tried to help him but Mazen bled heavily. Mazen took a last breath and died before my eyes".
Mr Dana's death brings to 17 the number of journalists or their assistants who have died in Iraq since war began on March 20th. Two others have been missing since the first days of the war.