Journalist for AP slain in Mosul

Insurgents killed an Associated Press cameraman covering clashes Tuesday in Mosul, Iraqi police said. He was the second employee of the news cooperative killed in the northern city in less than two years.

Aswan Ahmed Lutfallah, 35, was having his car repaired in an industrial area in the eastern part of the city about 10:30 a.m. when insurgents and police began fighting nearby, and he rushed to cover the clash, police Brig. Abdul-Karim Ahmed Khalaf said.

Insurgents spotted him filming and shot him, Khalaf said.

Lutfallah had been employed by AP Television News in Mosul since last year.

“Our hearts go out to Aswan’s family and his Iraqi AP colleagues,” said Tom Curley, the Associated Press’ president and chief executive. “The murder of yet another journalist underscores the particular dangers of this conflict and the sacrifices of those committed to reporting the story.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced Tuesday that four Marines died Monday in the western province of Al Anbar: one assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 who died of “nonhostile causes” and three assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing who were wounded in combat.

A soldier with the 13th Sustainment Command lost consciousness and died Monday of natural causes near Diwaniya. A total of 2,927 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to icasualties.org.