- KHALDIYAH, Iraq (AFP) --
US soldiers today fired on a car belonging to the American news agency
Associated Press, an Agence France-Presse reporter at the scene said.
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- The AFP correspondent said AP reporters were trying to
film an ambushed convoy in the town west of Baghdad when they were fired
on, despite having AP clearly marked on their car.
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- Neither the two reporters nor the driver, all Iraqis,
were hurt when the Americans opened fire in the area where witnesses said
US forces suffered heavy casualties in a bomb and rocket-propelled grenade
attack.
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- "The Americans opened fire when I took out my camera
to film" a military vehicle on fire, said one of the AP journalists,
Karim al-Ubeidi.
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- "The mention of AP was clearly visible on the car
but they opened fire nevertheless," he said.
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- The Associated Press had earlier reported that US troops
were ambushed on the main road of Khaldiyah, hit by a remote-controlled
roadside bomb and then coming under heavy gunfire that destroyed at least
two trucks.
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- An AP driver saw a 20-year-old man, still alive after
being shot in the chest, placed in a taxi.
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- The AP reporter said he was fired on by one of the tanks
with three rounds from its 50-calibre machine gun.
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- An AP photographer said his car was shot up by American
fire, the windshield blown out and all the tires flattened. The photographer
and his driver were not injured.
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- A reporter who arrived on the scene said he saw five
US tanks, two Bradley fighting vehicles and 40 troops surrounding a neighbourhood
from which gunmen opened fire after the bomb exploded. Helicopters hovered
above.
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- Initially as US troops were taking fire from unknown
positions, soldiers were firing with no obvious targets, in an apparent
effort to protect themselves until reinforcements arrived, a witness said.
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- Al-Arabiya television reported eight Americans were killed
and one wounded. There was no confirmation of any casualties, and initial
casualty reports have proven incorrect in the past.
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- Fifteen kilometres west, a second roadside bomb hit a
military convoy of three Humvees and a truck shortly after the attack in
Khaldiyah. One humvee that served as a troop carrier was engulfed in flames.
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- Copyright 2003 News Limited.
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- http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7310486%255E401,00.html
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