By: (AP) A Reuters cameraman shot by U.S. soldiers in Iraq was buried Wednesday during a ceremony that drew hundreds of mourners to his West Bank hometown of Hebron. Family and friends lashed out at the United States over the killing.
Mazen Dana, 41, was killed while on assignment in Iraq for the news agency Reuters. Many of the mourners carried Palestinian flags or photographs of Dana.
He spent most of the past decade covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Hebron. On the job, he was shot and beaten several times by Israeli troops, and acknowledged the risks of working in one of the most volatile areas of the West Bank.
Dana, a father of four, was shot and killed while videotaping Sunday near a U.S.-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad. The U.S. Army said its soldiers, on two tanks, mistook his camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Dana was the second Reuters cameraman -- and the 17th news organization employee -- to die since the war began on March 20.
Reuters urged the U.S. army to investigate the killing, as did the France-based group Reporters Without Borders.
The killing "is unacceptable and must be punished," Reporters Without Borders Secretary-General Robert Menard said in a statement. "It is essential that clear instructions and calls for caution are given to soldiers in the field so that the freedom of movement and work of journalists is respected in Iraq."
Relatives and colleagues in the West Bank have expressed anger at the United States over the killing.
On Monday, about 200 men marched through Hebron, holding photos of Dana and demanding that more be done to protect journalists. Some held signs saying "The occupations kill journalists in Iraq, Palestine."
Waiel Awwad, a Syrian who is president of the Foreign Correspondents Club of South Asia, also condemned the killing, saying in an e-mailed statement that the shooting was "reckless" and that the U.S. administration should fully investigate.
Dana had been working for Reuters for a decade, and the news agency said he was one of its most experienced in conflict zones.
In 2001, he won an International Press Freedom Award, given by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, for his work in Hebron.
Dana is survived by a wife, Suzanne, and four children ranging in age from 1 to 10.
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