International media groups call for investigation after leaked video shows US military killing Reuters' journalists

Leading media and press freedom organisations have called upon the United States army to open a new investigation into the killings of two journalists in Iraq in 2007.

Military video depicting the slaying of more than 12 people - including the two Thomson Reuters news staff - by two Apache helicopters was leaked to whistleblowing website Wikileaks on Monday.

The attack took place on the morning of 12 July 2007 in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad killing two Saeed Chmagh, a 40-year-old Reuters driver and assistant, and Namir Noor-Eldeen, a 22-year-old war photographer.

[Warning: the video below contains shocking images]



Reuters has pressed the US military to conduct a full and objective investigation into the killing of the two staff.

"The deaths of Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh three years ago were tragic and emblematic of the extreme dangers that exist in covering war zones. We continue to work for journalist safety and call on all involved parties to recognise the important work that journalists do and the extreme danger that photographers and videojournalists face in particular," says David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief of Reuters news, in a statement.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have now joined the news agency's call for a fresh investigation.

"This is evidence of calculated, cold-blooded and horrifying violence," says Jim Boumelha, IFJ president, in a statement.

"The United States cannot ignore this atrocity and the killings of unarmed civilians. We insist on a completely new review of these and all the killings of journalists and media staff in the Iraq conflict."

"This footage is deeply disturbing and reminds us of what journalists in war zones undergo to bring us the news," says Joel Simon, CPJ's executive director, in a statement.

"The video also confirms our long-held view that a thorough and transparent investigation into this incident is urgently needed."

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Salwan Saeed, Saeed Chmagh's son, said: "The American has broken my back by killing my father. I will not let the Americans get away with it. I will follow the path of my father and will hold another camera."

According to research by the CPJ, at least 16 journalists have been killed by US forces' fire in Iraq.

"While the CPJ has not found evidence to conclude that US troops targeted journalists in these cases, its research shows that most of the cases were either not fully investigated or the military failed to publicly disclose its findings," says the committee.

An investigation following the incident by the US military concluded that the soldiers acted in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own rules of engagement and were unaware of the presence of the journalists. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act since the attack, but without success. The US military did release documents to the news agency last year relating to the presence of weapons on the scene.

In 2008, 23-year-old Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana was killed while working in Gaza. Reuters challenged the Israeli military's investigation into the incident, saying it was dissatisfied and disappointed with the army's claims that it was justified in firing the shell that killed the journalist.

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