An American Soldier Dies in Baghdad, 12 Iraqis Killed..

The military said the incident happened in Karada, a mainly Shi’ite neighborhood in central Baghdad.

12 Iraqis Killed in Storage Explosion

The 12 Iraqis were killed in the explosion at a storage dump of confiscated ammunition on the outskirts of Tikrit.
"Twelve people were killed in the explosion. All lived in a district inhabited by former members of the Iraqi army who were unemployed," said Kazem Hassan, 32, a former tank regiment sergeant now living in the village of Hammad Shehab, some 175 kilometres north of Baghdad. Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel said the men had broken into the dump to loot copper from artillery and other shells, which they would then resell.

Also two other Iraqis were gunned down by US troops in two separate incidents.

Witnesses: Killing of Cameraman by US Troops in Iraq – not Accident

Foreign journalists in Iraq Monday accused American soldiers 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, a Reuters cameraman was shot dead Sunday while working near a U.S.-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad that earlier was hit by a mortar attack, the AP said.

Dana, 41, was filming outside Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad when he was shot, Reuters added. A U.S. military official said Dana was shot by US troops.

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.

Dana’s driver, Munzer Abbas, said Dana had got out of the car when he saw the tanks approaching.

"We saw a tank, 50 meters 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 carrying a rocket-propelled grenade," said Abbas.

"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 U.S. soldiers "saw us and they knew about our identities and our mission.

Dana’s driver, Munzer Abbas, said Dana had got out of the car when he saw the tanks approaching. "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 U.S. soldiers "saw us and they knew about our identities and our mission."

Dana was honored by the Committee to Protect Journalists with an International Press Freedom Award in November 2001 for his work covering conflict in his hometown of Hebron in the West Bank. He was shot at least three times in 2000, according to the citation on the group’s web site.

In May 2000, Dana was shot in the leg with a rubber-coated bullet while filming Palestinian youths throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers.
Two months later, Jewish settlers beat him unconscious while he tried to film a conflict. The next day, an Israeli police officer slammed Dana’s head in the rear door of an ambulance while he was filming the evacuation of a Palestinian youth wounded in clashes. Dana was shot again in October 2000, in the same leg, two days in a row.

Meanwhile, The Al-Arabiya TV news channel said it had received a message purportedly from Saddam Hussein’s number two Izzat Ibrahim promising to avenge the deaths of the former president’s sons.

"I swear that no one will be left at peace as long as Uday and Qusay are not avenged, as long as Iraq is not liberated and as long the infidel colonizers, traitors and apostates are not killed," said the letter, dated July 30.

"Iraqis, old and young, have vowed to avenge the two princes of jihad and the martyrs, Uday and Qusay," added the letter.