US army must investigate deaths of Reuters staffers

The US army and the Iraqi police have been urged to investigate the deaths of a photographer and a driver employed by Reuters Thursday in Baghdad because of the contradictory accounts about the circumstances. Their deaths bring to six the number of Reuters employees killed since the start of the US-led invasion in March 2003.

Relatives of Saeed Chmagh, an Iraqi driver working with Reuters, mourn over his coffin during a funeral procession in Baghdad. Iraqi journalist Khalid W Hassan working with the 'New York Times' in Baghdad was shot dead, the newspaper's Baghdad bureau chief said in a statement. A day earlier, another journalist and his driver were killed in the capital. (AFP/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)

“We are deeply saddened by the deaths of these two Reuters employees and we offer our most sincere condolences to their families and colleagues,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “An investigation must be quickly carried out by both the US army and the Iraqi police, who have a police post at Al-Rashad that is near where they were killed. If the circumstances and responsibilities are not clearly established, suspicions will persist about the US army’s involvement.”

Photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and his driver, Saeed Chmagh, 40, were killed in east Baghdad by gunfire of unclear origin. Witnesses said a rocket was fired from a US helicopter. Other sources told Reuters they could have been killed by a mortar shell fired by Iraqi militia members.

Reuters chief executive Tom Glocer said, “Noor-Eldeen and Chmagh’s outstanding contribution to reporting on the unfolding events in Iraq has been vital. They stand alongside other colleagues in Reuters who have died doing a job that they believe in.”

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh and offer our deepest condolences to their families,” Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director Joel Simon said. “We call on the US military to quickly provide details about this deadly incident.”

The Multi-National Force-Iraq press desk in Baghdad did not immediately respond to CPJ’s telephone and email inquiries seeking comment. In all, 15 journalists and three media support staffers have been killed by US forces’ fire in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

Covering the war in Iraq is now the most dangerous job in the world for journalists. A total of 194 have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war, according to RSF. There has also been no word as to the fate of 14 Iraqi journalists who have been kidnapped, some of them more than a year ago.