Reporters Without Borders calls on the US Army to investigate death of Iraqi ABC cameraman

Reporters Without Borders has called on the US Army to open an immediate investigation into the death of Iraqi cameraman Bourhan Mohammad al-Louhaybi, who was shot in the head while working for the American ABC television network. The cameraman was killed while covering clashes between US forces and groups of armed Iraqis in Falluja, 50 kilometres west of Baghdad on 26 March. The international press freedom organisation, which expressed shock and anger at his death, said that a doctor at Falluja general hospital had told Agence France-Presse that the bullet that killed the cameraman was "identical to those we have seen in other cases of people wounded by US soldiers". ABC News confirmed the death of al-Louhaybi, 34, on its website. The cameraman had reportedly wanted to go on filming the clashes against the advice of some of his colleagues. Four other Iraqis were killed during the combat. Calling for an immediate US Army investigation into the circumstances of this very serious incident, Reporters Without Borders said that if it turned out the cameraman had been hit by an American bullet it would bring to seven the number of journalists killed by US forces in the last year. The organisation called on the US Army Chief of Staff to promptly send very clear orders to its troops about protection of civilians, particularly journalists, during clashes. Elsewhere, the US weekly Time Magazine has confirmed the death of one of its Iraqi interpreters, Omar Hashim Kamal, who died in Baghdad on 26 March after being shot in circumstances that are still unclear.