Journalist Killed in Baghdad Hotel Blast

Justintime

Justintime

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A Reuters journalist was killed and three were wounded in Baghdad on Tuesday when a U.S. tank fired a shell at the media hotel where they were working.
A Spanish journalist was also wounded.

Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, 35, a Ukrainian national based in Warsaw, died after the blast at the Palestine Hotel, base for much of the foreign media in the Iraqi capital.

U.S. forces said one of their tanks had fired on the hotel after taking incoming sniper and rocket fire, though journalists reported hearing no such fire from the hotel.

U.S. military officials expressed regret at the incident.

"A tank was receiving small arms fire and RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) fire from the hotel and engaged the target with one tank round," General Buford Blount, commander of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad, told Reuters.

Samia Nakhoul, Lebanese-born Gulf bureau chief for Reuters, and Iraqi photographer Faleh Kheiber were both treated in hospital for facial and head wounds and concussion. Doctors said their injuries were not serious.

Television satellite dish coordinator Paul Pasquale, from Britain, was taken to hospital with leg injuries but doctors said he was not in danger.

The four were part of the 18-member Reuters team in Baghdad.

"We are devastated by the death of Taras, who had distinguished himself with his highly professional coverage in some of the most violent conflicts of the past decade," said Reuters Editor-in-Chief Geert Linnebank.

He had reported from Chechnya, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

Madrid's Telecinco television said that its cameraman, Jose Couso, was wounded in the jaw and leg and was taken to hospital, where he underwent surgery for shrapnel wounds.

U.S. officials said their forces had been fired on from the hotel but a British reporter there who saw the tank take aim said he had heard no other firing.

"I never heard a single shot coming from any of the area around here, certainly not from the hotel," British Sky television's correspondent David Chater said.

The blast struck an upper floor of the high-rise building on the eastern banks of the Tigris river.

U.S. tanks, artillery and warplanes have been pounding Iraqi forces in the city center all morning. Iraqis have fired back with some artillery and rocket-propelled grenades.

A thin column of smoke rose from the hotel. Glass shards from hotel windows fell to the ground.

Journalists carried wounded colleagues out of the hotel on blood-stained bedsheets.

GUN MUZZLE POINTS

In a live report on air, Sky's Chater said he was on a hotel balcony just before the explosion and noticed a U.S. tank pointing its gun muzzle directly at the hotel -- but turned away just before the blast.

"One of the tanks had its barrel pointed up at the building. We went inside ... and there was an almighty crash, a huge explosion that shook the hotel," he said.

A Reuters correspondent telephoning from a lower floor of the hotel said: "There was just a huge bang. The walls shook."

The United States has said Iraqi forces operating from civilian areas like hotels would be legitimate targets. "We have said very clearly from the very beginning that Baghdad will be a very dangerous place to be," U.S. military spokesman Captain Frank Thorp told CNN in Qatar.

"This is a war zone."

Arabic-language al-Jazeera television said its separate Baghdad office was hit earlier on Tuesday during a U.S. air raid. A reporter/producer was killed and another wounded.

U.S. Central Command in Qatar said it was investigating the reports concerning the Jazeera and Palestine incidents.

DANGER TO JOURNALISTS

Hundreds of journalists are in Iraq to cover the U.S.-led war to topple President Saddam Hussein, and are working from Baghdad, with U.S. and British forces, or on their own.

Before Tuesday, at least six journalists had died covering the war that began on March 20.

On Monday, a German and a Spanish journalist died along with two U.S. soldiers in a missile strike south of Baghdad.

Sky's Chater said: "That tank shell, if it was indeed an American tank shell, was aimed directly at this hotel ... This wasn't an accident. It seems to be a very accurate shot."

Protsyuk had worked for Reuters since 1993. He leaves a widow, Lidia, and an 8-year-old son, Denis.
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I'd like to see the smoking sniper rifle and grenade launchers, must have silencers...;)


http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2527474
 
Also, i saw a report on this and other journalists from England did not hear/see anything and same with their colleagues from other countries, if they made a mistake why not just admit it?
 
Like he said... "This is a war zone." Things aren't always clearcut in the heat of battle...and accidents happen. They may have mistaken the direction from which they heard the shot.
 
Justintime said:
Also, i saw a report on this and other journalists from England did not hear/see anything and same with their colleagues from other countries, if they made a mistake why not just admit it?
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Old military truism...

You never hear the one that gets you...
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I know that accidents do happen, but c'mon i am sure they'd know journalists were there, and so far there is no proof of any fire from the building other than the word from the people who fired into the building.
 
Old military truism...

You never hear the one that gets you...
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True, but no ones firing at the journalists, so i don't see how that makes any sense here Gato.

Actually, gonna just withdraw from this, i got no time to argue about this, its my opinion and i'm stickin to it until otherwise is known.
 
Justintime said:
Actually, gonna just withdraw from this, i got no time to argue about this, its my opinion and i'm stickin to it until otherwise is known.
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I'm not clear on what your opinion is. Is it that you think the US military is deliberately killing journalists?
 
Personally, I have no sympathy. If civies inthe area are killed, I feel something. But journalists choose to put themselves in harms way. When it finds them, shit happens. Noone put them there.

As for the sniper ... well, half a sniper's job is to not be seen. And the Iraqis are deliberately putting snipers and spotters on and in schools. IMO if the Iraqis don't care enough about the schools to avoid making them targets ... why should the allies?
 
I have to agree. For one, Justin, you do make it sound like we intentionally targetted that building with the intent of killing journalists. That I really doubt. I'm sure they were taking fire, and they shot back in the direction they thought it was coming from, which is the only thing you can do until you determine exactly where it's coming from. Also, just because the journalists didn't hear the shots, doesn't mean they didn't happen. Were the soldiers referring to hearing the gunshots or hearing the bullets ricocheting off the tanks and APC's. Unless you were there, you won't know. You have about 2 seconds to make a decsion on what to do.

And, as Prof said, these people put themselves there. I really doubt there is a journalist in country that doens't want to be there. They knew the risks going in.
 
If you deliberately put yourself in harms way why should it surprise you when you get harmed... :rolleyes:
 
You guys are readin me wrong, i'd never believe they intentionally did it, i'm saying if a mistake was made and a shell mistakenly hit the hotel don't cover it up with stories about snipers and grenade launchers, if its a coverup, and from what i've seen so far theres nothing to support thier claim.
 
Ok, I agree with you there, Justin. I don't know, like I said, with all the burning, explosions and other stuff going on in the city right now, I can see where the shots from a sniper wouldn't be noticed. The sound of that bullet hitting a tank or APC would though. Just a thought.
 
Yeah, I think they at least make a Whoomp sound as the grenade leaves the gun. But certainly the sound of the explosion is louder than the firing. I don't know, it may have been confusion, it may have been stupidity. Don't know if we'll ever really find out which though.
 
Justintime said:
You guys are readin me wrong, i'd never believe they intentionally did it, i'm saying if a mistake was made and a shell mistakenly hit the hotel don't cover it up with stories about snipers and grenade launchers, if its a coverup, and from what i've seen so far theres nothing to support thier claim.
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Okay, I see your point now, and you're right about not trying to cover it up. It doesn't help anyone.
 
U.S. Army Col. David Perkins, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade, said Iraqis fired rocket-propelled grenades at tanks from in front of the hotel, and the military, scanning the area for observation posts, saw the binocular and fired. The tanks were also taking fire from mortars.
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Ok, the tank gunner should have known the hotel was full of journalists, but apparently someone saw a pair of binoculars, and thought that was the sniper. Easy enough mistake.
 
I think they got the death toll wrong, they say 2, but afaik its only one, the other one does not have life endangering wounds :retard:
 
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