FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - An Iraqi cameraman working for Reuters was shot dead during clashes in rebel-held Ramadi, while a US war plane bombed nearby Fallujah overnight, the military and news agency said.
Dhia Najim, a 57-year-old freelance video camerman, was apparently shot dead by a sniper while on assignment for the London-based Reuters news agency, a Reuters correspondent in Baghdad said.
It was unclear whether the sniper had been an insurgent or a US soldier.
The US military is known to have stationed marksmen in Ramadi as it fights to restore order to the lawless city, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad.
For its part, the US military confirmed that a cameraman working for a "major news agency" had been caught in clashes between US troops and rebel fighters.
"Marines from the 1st Marine Division of the I Marine Expeditionary Force engaged several insurgents in a brief small-arms firefight that killed an individual who was carrying a video camera earlier Monday morning," it said in a statement.
The video camera found on Najim showed pictures of previous attacks on US-led troops, the military added.
Reuters had hired the Ramadi local on a freelance basis and the father of four had been working for the news agency at the time of his death.
The media company will ensure Najim's wife, son and three daughters are looked after, the correposndent said.
In another flashpoint city east of Ramadi, the US military unleashed an air raid on the rebel hotspot of Fallujah, in what has become a near daily bombardment of the Sunni Muslim bastion, west of Baghdad.
"A US Air Force plane engaged a pre-planned target using precision ordnance, which destroyed a known enemy cache site on the southeast side of the city," the miitary said in a separate statement.
Expectations of a two-pronged assault on the twin cities of Fallujah and Ramadi -- believed to be the nerve centre of Iraq's violent insurgency -- are rising as the interim government vows to crush pockets of insurgency ahead of elections promised by January.
Since mid-October, US troops have encircled Fallujah, where the military has repeatedly launched air strikes and limited ground incursions. They are currently doubling their troop strength to 2,000 in Ramadi.
Najim's death brings to at least 46 the number of journalists and other media workers killed in Iraq since the beginning of the US-led invasion in 2003, according to a tally by Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders.
Four days ago, a car bomb ripped through the Baghdad offices of Al-Arabiya television, killing seven people and wounding 19.
Media personnel have also been targeted in the plague of kidnappings and assassinations which has scarred the country.
There has been no word of French journalists Christian Chesnot of Radio France International and Georges Malbrunot of Le Figaro newspaper since they were abducted south of Baghdad on August 20.
Very tough life, that of a stringer in a combat zone. And short. Prayers for the family.