2 Foreign Journalists Slain in Sierra Leone

Two journalists, an American and a Spaniard, who were covering the civil conflict here were killed Wednesday when their vehicles were ambushed by rebel soldiers on a road about 60 miles northeast of this capital.

United Nations spokesman David Wimhurst said four Sierra Leonean army soldiers who were accompanying the journalists also were killed. Two other journalists, a Greek and a South African, were wounded in the attack.

The dead are Kurt Schork, 53, an American reporter for the Reuters news service, and Miguel Gil Moreno, 32, a Spanish producer for Associated Press television. Yannis Behrakis, a Greek photographer, and Mark Chisholm, a South African cameraman, were wounded. The two Reuters employees were in good condition Wednesday night at a Freetown hospital.

Behrakis said the group was ambushed on the road leading from Rogberi Junction to the town of Lunsar, where government forces have been engaged in fierce fighting against the rebel Revolutionary United Front. Despite a peace agreement signed in July, the two sides have been battling for the past month.

Many journalists have been visiting Rogberi Junction in recent days after the remains of about half a dozen people in U.N. uniforms were found there Monday. The dead are believed to be U.N. peacekeepers from Zambia, although the world organization has not confirmed their identities.

Behrakis said that when he and his colleagues arrived at Rogberi Junction, they picked up about six government soldiers as escorts for the journey to Lunsar. A few miles down the road, about 10 rebels hiding behind a roadside bank opened fire on the two vehicles.

Schork and Moreno were driving and apparently died instantly. Behrakis, Chisholm and two soldiers were passengers in Schork’s car; Moreno and several soldiers were following in a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

Behrakis described his harrowing experience of trying to escape from a moving vehicle under fire.

“I told the soldier next to me to open the door, but he was dead,” Behrakis said. “I had to open the door, kick out the guy and roll out of the car.”

Behrakis, 39, said he spent three hours in the jungle, crawling on his stomach and trying to conceal himself by smearing dirt on his face and covering himself with leaves and branches.

When he returned to the road, he found that the two vehicles had been destroyed and his dead colleagues already transported to Rogberi Junction by government troops. Chisholm, he said, arrived safely at Rogberi Junction.

The army turned over the four journalists to Jordanian peacekeepers serving with the United Nations, who then arranged for their transport to Freetown.

In a statement released in Freetown, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: “They were doing what other journalists are doing around the world, taking risks to keep us informed. The message that they uncovered in Sierra Leone is that the killing has not stopped.”

Schork had been a Rhodes scholar and had covered conflicts in the Balkans, northern Iraq and East Timor, Reuters reported.

“I know Kurt died happy, as strange as that may sound,” said Behrakis, who had worked with Schork for many years covering hot spots around the world.