Fellow journalists accused US troops of negligence in the shooting death of a Reuters cameraman, saying it was clear the victim was a newsman when soldiers on two tanks opened fire.
Mazen Dana, 41, was shot and killed by US soldiers Sunday while videotaping near a US-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad. The US Army said its soldiers mistook his camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
The film Dana shot showed a tank driving toward him. Six shots were heard, and the camera appeared to tilt forward and drop to the ground after the first shot.
Dana was working outside the Abu Ghraib prison after a mortar attack there Sunday in which six prisoners were killed and about 60 wounded. Witnesses said Dana was dressed in civilian clothes.
"We were all there, for at least half an hour. They knew we were journalists. After they shot Mazen, they aimed their guns at us. I don't think it was accident. They are very tense. They are crazy," said Stephan Breitner of France 2 television.
Breitner said soldiers tried to resuscitate Dana but failed.
"They are young soldiers and they don't understand what is happening," Breitner said.
Dana's driver, Munzer Abbas, said Dana had got out of the car when he saw the tanks approaching.
"We saw a tank, 50m away. I heard six shots and Mazen fell to the ground. One of the soldiers started shouting at us, but when he knew we were journalists, he softened. One of the soldiers told us they thought Mazen was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade," Abbas said.
"There were many journalists around. They knew we were journalists. This was not an accident," he said.
Reuters quoted soundman Nael al-Shyoukhi, who was with Dana, as saying that the US soldiers "saw us and they knew about our identities and our mission.
"After we filmed we went into the car and prepared to go when a convoy led by a tank arrived and Mazen stepped out of the car to film. I followed him and Mazen walked three to four meters. We were noted and seen clearly, al-Shyoukhi said.
"A soldier on the tank shot at us. I lay on the ground. I heard Mazen and I saw him scream and touching his chest.
"I cried at the soldier, telling him you killed a journalist. They shouted at me and asked me to step back and I said `I will step back but please help, please help.'"
He said they tried to help him but Dana was bleeding heavily.
"Mazen took a last breath and died before my eyes."
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of sweltering Baghdadis faced another day without running water yesterday after sabotage of a key water pipe in the east of the capital that came amid a spate of deadly attacks across Iraq.
With summer temperatures hovering around 50?C, up to 300,000 people were without drinking water for a second scorching day.
And with faltering infrastructure and increasing lawlessness in parts of Baghdad, the water shortage was likely to further wear down Iraqi patience with the occupying coalition forces.
The water-pipe attack on Sunday morning sent thousands of liters gushing into the streets of the eastern Baghdad suburb of Rasafa.
Floods in some streets created impromptu swimming pools for many Iraqis baking in the relentless heat.
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