NEWS: U.S. fire kills Arab reporter on air
September 13, 2004
BY ADRIAN BLOMFIELD
suntimes.com
BAGHDAD -- A TV reporter was shot dead as he made a live broadcast from Baghdad on Sunday when U.S. helicopters fired on a crowd that had gathered around the burning wreckage of an American armored vehicle.
Mazen al-Tumeizi, a Palestinian working for Al-Arabiya, one of the main Arab satellite channels, was among at least 12 people -- all thought to be civilians -- killed in the incident on Haifa Street.
It was the bloodiest in a succession of violent clashes that claimed nearly 60 people Sunday across Iraq.
On Haifa Street, a main road in central Baghdad that has long been under the effective control of Saddam Hussein loyalists, there were several hours of gunfire during a U.S. mission to capture 21 men the Iraqi government described as terrorists.
'I'm dying, I'm dying'
A Bradley fighting vehicle rushing to help an American patrol was damaged by a car bomb, the U.S. military said. A total of six American soldiers were wounded in the explosion and during an operation to evacuate the crew.
Later, a crowd of Iraqis gathered around 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."
U.S. 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 vicinity of the vehicle," said Maj. 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.
Tawhid and Jihad, a group linked to al-Qaida and led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it carried out Sunday's coordinated campaign of violence in Baghdad.
In an Internet statement, the group boasted it holds the initiative in the Iraqi insurgency and possesses the ''capability to surprise the enemy and hit its strategic installations at the right time and place.''
Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi vowed to pursue insurgents. ''We are adamant that we are going to defeat terrorism,'' Allawi said. ''We intend to confront them and bring them to justice.''
Among dozens slain across Iraq were three Polish soldiers killed in an ambush south of Baghdad, raising Poland's death toll in Iraq to 13.
Daily Telegraph, with AP contributing |
