| Live and in color, though mostly red... |
A PALESTINIAN television journalist was killed today as he was giving a live report to camera on deadly clashes between US forces and insurgents in the heart of the Iraqi capital. Residents of his home town in the West Bank watched in horror as Mazen al-Tomaisi, who worked for Saudi television Akhbariya and for the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya, went down.
| "And folks, that thing you see just over my right shoulder is an Apache helicopter, armed with Hellfire missiles! It's just launched! Let's see where it lands!... Ohhhh! Rosebud!" |
Mr Tomaisi, 28, was killed when a US helicopter fired missiles on a mob which had gathered round a US tank in Baghdad that had been set ablaze in a car bomb attack, one of a string of bombings across the capital today. Blood spattered across the cameraman's lens and screams were heard by viewers of the Al-Arabiya report. Mr Tomaisi, from the West Bank town of Idna, is the fourth Palestinian journalist killed in Iraq.
| Or maybe the fourth lugging a camera... |
An Iraqi cameraman and an Iraqi photographer were also slightly wounded by flying shrapnel during the attack.
| "Duck, Mahmoud!... Ooooh! That hadda hurt!" |
An Iraqi official later said a total of 13 people were killed, including two children, and 55 were wounded during the battle in Haifa Street, a suspected bastion of Saddam Hussein loyalists, where insurgents and US troops clash regularly.
"Legume! Insurgents and U.S. troops clash regularly in this neighborhood! I suspect it's a bastion of Saddam Hussein loyalists!"
"How do you do, Inspector!" |
The US military said four soldiers were also wounded.
Grapic pictures:
Jubilant Iraqis swarm over the disabled Bradley (not a tank, btw)
Not so jubilant Iraqis just after choppers destroyed the vehicle to prevent the capture of sensitive equipment. |
