Posted on 03/24/2003 6:41:27 AM PST by new cruelty
Reporter dies, two missing in burst of 'friendly fire' March 25 2003 By London
Television journalist Terry Lloyd is believed to have died after the car he was travelling in came under fire in southern Iraq.
Mr Lloyd's two colleagues, cameraman Fred Nerac and translator Hussein Osman, are still missing.
The television news service ITN said Mr Lloyd, 50, who was married with two children, had been picked up by Iraqis on the road where he and his crew were hit and taken to Basra hospital, which is still under Iraqi control.
ITN became convinced of Mr Lloyd's death after the Qatar television station al-Jazeera showed footage on its midnight news of a group of bloodied bodies that had been brought into Basra hospital.
"We were rung by someone from ITN who said he had seen the body of a colleague," a producer for al-Jazeera said. "He asked to come to our studios to look at it... When the journalist turned up we showed him the tape. He said he was 90 per cent certain that it was Terry."
The three men disappeared on Saturday after they came under fire in Iman Anas, while travelling to Basra. Another cameraman, Daniel Demoustier, was injured as the crew drove towards Basra in two vehicle. He scrambled to safety, but was not able to see what happened to his colleagues.
Mr Demoustier said Mr Lloyd was his passenger in one car when their convoy was hit by "friendly fire" from coalition forces. But Group Captain Al Lockwood, spokesman for British Forces in Qatar, said British troops had not been involved in the incident.
ITN remains convinced that Mr Lloyd was killed by "friendly fire".
ITN chief executive Stuart Purvis said Mr Lloyd "was one of ITN's most experienced war correspondents. He knew Iraq very well. He was brave, determined and safety conscious. He was a lovely guy."
Was this guy travelling on his own?
Looks that way, but there is a mention of a convoy. Maybe it was a convoy of hairdressers? If they were on their own, then it's inappropriate to label this a friendly fire incident (unless they mean Iraqis), esp. since they may have ignored repeated warnings from the military. More likely, Darwin paid them an overdue visit.
Anyone see it the same way?
BBC takes care after journalist's death
Ciar Byrne
Monday March 24, 2003
The BBC said today it would be extra cautious in Iraq following the death of Terry Lloyd, the ITN reporter who allegedly came under attack by allied forces after encountering Iraqi troops.
The corporation said there was no need to adjust its policy because it only has one roving team, led by veteran world affairs editor John Simpson, in northern Iraq.
However, the corporation has teams on the borders of Jordan and Kuwait, whose brief is to give "the fullest picture possible" and who could cross into Iraq if the situation were considered safe.
The BBC head of newsgathering, Adrian Van-Klaveren, said the broadcaster had not felt it necessary to change its policy in the light of Lloyd's death.
"Like all news organisations we thought about these issues beforehand and we have a very clear policy," said Van-Klaveren.
"Certainly we passed on the news to our teams on the ground because it's very important information and weighs very heavily on them.
"It's something that informs our decision taking as to the risks we would potentially be running. It means there are things we may not do," he added.
Lloyd was killed on Saturday after the two-vehicle convoy in which he was travelling came under fire from what is believed to be allied forces. Two of his colleagues are still missing.
The veteran ITN reporter, who had years of experience in war zones, was not the only journalist to come under attack over the weekend.
In the north of the country Paul Moran, a freelance cameraman working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was killed by a car bomb.
Today a Newsweek reporter, who was working independently of the army, told how he and a photographer came under fire after making their way almost as far as Nasiriya, west of Basra in southern Iraq.
He admitted the military had advised him not to go ahead and that they did not approve of journalists operating independently.
Van-Klaveren said it was preferable for journalists reporting from the front line to be under military protection but added the problem was "there isn't one front line - there are pockets of resistance, it moves around".
He added the BBC took a variety of information into account when deciding whether it was "safe and stable" to send roving reporters into war zones.
He said this included "how good our information is about where they're heading, about the potential escape routes, what degree of protection they have and local intelligence from people who've been to that area in the previous few hours".
BBC correspondents are equipped with flak jackets and attend a six-day training course in working in hostile environments.
Based on freakin' what?
I heard the interview with the survivor of this event. From his description of the incident it sure didn't sound like friendly fire, ambushing a car with civilians(westerners at that) while other cars are passing by and ambulances coming and going. This sounds like an ambush by some of these backshooting cowards that work for Saddam>
I heard the interview with the survivor of this event. From his description of the incident it sure didn't sound like friendly fire, ambushing a car with civilians(westerners at that) while other cars are passing by and ambulances coming and going. This sounds like an ambush by some of these backshooting cowards that work for Saddam>
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