| Subject: 25 Reporters Besieged By U.S. Tanks Sent SOS |
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Date Posted: 22:10:39 04/08/03 Tue
25 Reporters Besieged By U.S. Tanks Sent SOS
BAGHDAD, April 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Following the tragic death of three reporters earlier Tuesday, April 8, in a U.S. tank attack on Palestine hotel - the residence of reporters - and bombing of Al-Jazeera office, a correspondent with Abu Dhabi TV issued an SOS to humanitarian organizations to rescue a group of journalists who are "surrounded" by U.S. tanks in the satellite channel's Baghdad offices.
The correspondent, Shaker Hamed, issued the call for help on Abu Dhabi TV saying that "25 journalists and technicians belonging to Abu Dhabi television and Qatari satellite television channel Al-Jazeera are surrounded in the offices of Abu Dhabi TV in Baghdad," Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"We are surrounded in a military area where there are no civilians, with the exception of the Abu Dhabi TV team and a five people from Al-Jazeera," Hamed said, calling on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) "to intervene quickly to pull us out of this zone where missiles and shells are striking in an unbelievable way."
The correspondent also called for the help of the International Organization of Journalists, Reporters Sans Frontieres and the Arab Journalists Union to rescue them.
The offices are on a road along the banks of the Tigris River between the Mansur Hotel and the Iraqi planning ministry, not far from the Republican Palace compound where fierce fighting raged between U.S. and Iraqi troops early Tuesday.
One of Al-Jazzera's Baghdad correspondents, Tareq Ayyoub, a cameraman for the Reuters news agency, Taras Protsyuk, and a cameraman for Spain's Telecinco, Jose Couso, were killed Tuesday in American attacks.
Dubai's Gulf News reported Tuesday that Shaker's older brother Jawad and two of his brother's children, Hamid, 13, and 12-year-old Khulood died in bombing by U.S. warplanes of the southern city of Nassiriya.
French TV Exposes Deliberate Targeting
France 3 TV footage showed U.S. tanks deliberately firing at Baghdad's media hotel killing two foreign reporters.
"They (U.S. tanks) headed there, moved their turrets and waited at least two minutes before opening fire," said Herve de Ploeg, the journalist who filmed the U.S. attack.
"I did not hear any shots in the direction of the tank, which was stationed at the west entrance of the Al-Jumhuriya (Republic) bridge, 600 meters (yards) northwest of the hotel," she averred.
The French TV channel had positioned two cameras in two rooms facing the bridge as of 6:30 am (0230 GMT).
"It had been very quiet for a moment. There was no shooting at all. Then I saw the turret turning in our direction and the carriage lifting. It faced the target," said De Ploeg.
"It was not a case of instinctive firing…I'm very specific because I was due to go on air," she explained.
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