TV Channel Says Staffer Killed by U.S. Troops

An Arab satellite channel said U.S. soldiers shot and killed one of its cameramen and critically wounded a correspondent.

Al Arabiya, based in the United Arab Emirates, said cameraman Ali Abdel Aziz and correspondent Ali Khatib were hit as they covered a nighttime rocket attack on a Baghdad hotel.

“There were a lot of cars in the area. One of them rammed an American Bradley fighting vehicle,” said Mohammed Ibrahim, the station’s editing supervisor in Baghdad. He said the U.S. troops were firing at random.

He said both men were outside their car filming and began running away because they thought the car that rammed a military vehicle was a suicide bomber, Ibrahim said. Three other Al Arabiya staffers who were at the scene were unhurt, Ibrahim said.

Cpl. Craig Stowell, a U.S. military spokesman, said, “One Iraqi was shot and killed when he tried to run a checkpoint near Burj al-Hayat hotel.”