Two staff members of Al-Iraqiya television killed by US fire

Reporters Without Borders has called on the Pentagon to launch a fair and rigorous investigation into the death of two staffers of the Iraqi television channel Al-Iraqiya killed by US gunfire on 19 April on the Samarra road, some 125 kilometres north of Baghdad. The latest deaths bring to at least 23 the number of Iraqi and foreign reporters or their assistants, killed in Iraq during the war and its aftermath. The journalists or media assistants all died in circumstances directly linked to their journalistic work in the field. At least six of them have been killed by US forces : Tariq Ayyub (Al-Jazeera), Taras Protsyuk (Reuters), José Couso (Telecinco), Mazen Dana (Reuters), Ali Al-Khatib (Al-Arabiya) et Ali Abdel Aziz (Al-Arabiya). Two other journalists are believed to have been hit by US fire : Terry Lloyd (ITN) and Bourhan Mohammad Al-Luhaybi (ABC News). Two more journalists are officially missing since 22 March 2003 and an investigation by British Military Police is under way: Fred Nérac (ITN) and Hussein Othman (ITN). The coalition-funded Al-Iraqyia said on 19 April that two of its staff had been killed that day as they travelled to Samarra north of Baghdad. "Journalist Assad Kadhim and driver Hussein Saleh have been killed", said TV news editor-in-chief Najm Khalfaji. He said the crew had started to film a US base as it came under fire. Cameraman Jassem Kamel was wounded in the back and was apparently receiving treatment at a Samarra hospital. Another journalist working for the same channel, Thamir Ibrahim, said he did not know the exact details of how they died, but that "it was on the road leading to the city of Samarra. Before they reached it, they were fired upon". Al-Iraqiya interrupted its evening programmes on 19 April to broadcast passages from the Koran as a sign of mourning. The US Army had not yet confirmed the reports on 20 April. Reporters Without Borders on 20 April also sent a request to the Pentagon for access, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), to the report of the US Army investigation into the deaths on 18 March of two Al-Arabiya journalists. Reporter Ali Al-Khatib and cameraman Ali Abdel Aziz, were killed near an American checkpoint as they were covering the aftermath of a rocket attack against the Burj Al-Hayat Hotel in Baghdad. On 29 March, the US Army issued a statement accepting responsibility for the death of the two journalists in what it called "accidental" fire. According to the army, the soldiers opened fire on a vehicle ahead of the journalists that had jumped a roadblock at high speed and hit a Humvee. "It is probably that the Kia (the journalists' car) was accidentally hit by four to six bullets that were aimed at the Volvo," said the US Army. The international press freedom organisation has also asked to be provided with files also under the FOIA and relating to the main incidents involving journalists and US troops operating in Iraq. Reporters Without Borders received a reply on 3 December 2003, from the US Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida which said that the request for information about the deaths of Mazen Dana and Tariq Ayyub had been sent to US forces in Baghdad. "Due to operational tempo and difficulties communicating with an active war zone we anticipate a considerable delay in operating the requested documents," it read. Investigation reports on the following incidents, requested on 14 October and 1st December 2003, had still not reached them: - US and Iraqi firing on a two-vehicle convoy of British Independent Television News (ITN) in southern Iraq, near Basra. Reporter Terry Lloyd was killed, apparently in US firing while his two colleagues, cameraman Frédéric Nérac and translator Hussein Othman disappeared without trace. - The bombing of the offices of Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera on 8 April 2003 in Baghdad, causing the death of reporter Tariq Ayyub. - Shelling by an Abrams tank of the Meridien Palestine Hotel where a large number of international press representatives were staying. Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk and José Couso, cameraman for the privately owned Spanish Telecinco, were killed in this incident, also on 8 April 2003 in Baghdad. - US firing that killed Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana on 17 August 2003 in front of Abu Ghraib prison in the Baghdad suburbs.