England
Death of journalist in Iraq under investigationPosted Feb 25 2007
Scotland Yard's war crimes unit has launched an investigation into the 2003 shooting death of Terry Lloyd, a reporter for Britain's ITN television news service. Lloyd was working independently in Iraq and not embedded with troops. Lloyd and his colleagues, cameraman Fred Nerac and translator Hussien Othman, were traveling in a Mitsubishi Pajero SUV clearly marked TV on the hood and door with black tape when they were caught in a skirmish between U.S. forces and Iraqi insurgents. Lloyd was hit in the shoulder by Iraqi gunfire and escaped the vehicle injured but alive. Lloyd was killed shortly thereafter when American bullets were fired, hitting him in the head, into the makeshift civilian ambulance carrying him to treatment. U.S. authorities described the shooting as a friendly fire incident, but a British coroner ruled last October that Lloyd had been unlawfully killed. Despite the refusal of American and British authorities to reveal the identity of the U.S. marines involved, lawyers and investigators acting for Lloyd's widow have uncovered the names, which they will pass along to Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general. Further complicating the issue is the revelation that four British special services soldiers were in the area during the incident, but the Ministry of Defense withheld the information. There is the outside possibility that this could create tension between the United States and Great Britain, who are close allies in the war on terror. Lloyd is best known for his reports from the Iraqi town of Halabja in 1988, which brought to the world's attention the first pictures of the effects of Saddam Hussein's chemical warfare against the Kurds.
On the Web: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1364707.ece
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