Iraq: The killing of two journalists by US tank fire in Baghdad in April was avoidable but not deliberate, a report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said yesterday.
It questioned statements that the tank was responding to hostile fire from the hotel housing the reporters.
It said the Pentagon had yet to provide answers to some of its questions about the April 8th shelling of the Palestine Hotel, where about 100 journalists were staying almost three weeks into the US-led war on Iraq.
The attack on the journalists, while not deliberate, was avoidable, the group said in a report, Permission to Fire. It called anew for the Pentagon to provide "a full, public accounting".
"CPJ has learned that Pentagon officials, as well as commanders on the ground in Baghdad, knew that the Palestine Hotel was full of international journalists and were intent on not hitting it," the report said. "However, these senior officers apparently failed to convey their concern to the tank commander who fired on the hotel."
The shell hit a 15th- floor balcony used by Reuters in the 17-storey hotel. A Ukraine-born cameraman Taras Protsyuk and Spanish cameraman Jose Cuoso were wounded and both died after surgery in hospital. Three others were wounded.