- BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- A soundman working for Reuters
Television was shot dead Sunday in Baghdad, and a cameraman with him was
wounded and then detained by United States soldiers. An Iraqi police report,
read to Reuters by an Interior Ministry official, said the two had been
shot by American forces.
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- A United States military spokesman, Lt. Col. Steven
A. Boylan, said the incident was being investigated, and an official statement
indicated that the Americans were responding to an attack on an Iraqi police
convoy when the journalists were shot.
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- The death brings to 66 the number of journalists
and their aides killed in Iraq since the start of the invasion in 2003,
said Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based news media rights group.
That surpasses the 63 journalists killed over 20 years of conflict in Vietnam,
the group said.
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- The soundman, Waleed Khaled, 35, was struck by a
bullet to the face and at least four to the chest as he drove to investigate
a report from police sources of an incident involving police officers and
gunmen in the Hay al-Adil district in western Baghdad.
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- Reuters colleagues who arrived shortly after the
attack said that the wounded cameraman, Haider Kadhem, said, "I heard
shooting, looked up and saw an American sniper on the roof of the shopping
center."
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- He was detained by United States troops and remained
in custody 12 hours later, despite requests by Reuters that he be freed
to receive medical attention for a wound in his back.
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- Two Iraqi colleagues who arrived on the scene minutes
after the shooting were detained, but soon released.
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- The United States military statement said: "Task
Force Baghdad units responded to a terrorist attack on an Iraqi Police
convoy around 11:20 a.m. Aug. 28 in central Baghdad, which killed and wounded
several Iraqi police. One civilian was killed and another was wounded by
small-arms fire during the attack.
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- "After discovering an abandoned car with explosives
material, weapons and a cellphone, units began searching the area for the
terror suspects who were believed to have fled on foot."
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- Mr. Khaled had worked for Reuters for two years.
He is survived by a wife and daughter. David Schlesinger, Reuters global
managing editor, said: "This tragic incident must immediately be investigated
thoroughly and impartially."
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