- A television journalist was shot dead as he made a live
broadcast from Baghdad yesterday when United States helicopters fired on
a crowd that had gathered round the burning wreckage of an American
armoured
vehicle.
-
- Mazen al-Tumeizi, a Palestinian working for Al-Arabiya,
one of the main Arab satellite television channels, was among 12 people
- all believed to be civilians - killed in the incident on Haifa
Street.
-
- It was the bloodiest in a succession of violent clashes
that claimed scores of lives across Iraq.
-
- For much of the day, Baghdad echoed to explosions as
it came under its most intense barrage of mortars and other bombs in five
weeks.
-
- On Haifa Street, a main road in central Baghdad that
has long been under the effective control of Saddam loyalists, there were
several hours of gunfire during a United States mission to capture 21 men
the Iraqi government described as terrorists.
-
- A Bradley fighting vehicle was damaged by an apparent
car bomb. A total of five American soldiers were wounded in the explosion
and during the operation to evacuate the crew.
-
- Later, a crowd of Iraqis gathered round the burning
vehicle
and some began dancing in celebration.
-
- Tumeizi was describing the incident on camera when two
helicopter gunships were seen flying down the street and opening fire.
Tumeizi was hit by a bullet and doubled over, shouting: I'm dying, I'm
dying." About 50 people were wounded, the health ministry said, among
them a Reuters cameraman and an Iraqi reporter for the Guardian.
-
- Through the day, United States officers offered
contradictory
accounts of the incident and ordered an investigation.
-
- "As the helicopters flew over the burning Bradley
they received small arms fire from the insurgents in the vicinity of the
vehicle," said Major Philip Smith of the 1st Cavalry Division.
"Clearly
within the rules of engagement, the helicopters returned fire destroying
some anti-Iraqi forces in the vicinity of the Bradley."
-
- However, witnesses said there were no Iraqi fighters
in the area at the time.
-
- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
-
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