IRAQI PHOTOGRAPHER & DRIVER WORKING FOR REUTERS KILLED

Photo by Wissam al-Okaili/AFP-Getty Images
Baghdad, IRAQ: Two of the four sons of Saeed Chmagh weep outside a Baghdad morgue over the death of their father, who was one of two Reuters staffers killed today.

Reuters Photographer, Driver Killed
Killed While Covering Clash; Fifth and Sixth Reuters Staffers Killed in Iraq



LONDON (Reuters) - An Iraqi photographer and driver working for Reuters in Iraq were killed in Baghdad on Thursday, the international news and information company said.
Photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40, were killed in eastern Baghdad at a time when clashes had been taking place between U.S. forces and militants in the area.

The cause of their deaths was unclear, although witnesses spoke of an explosion in the area. Iraqi police said either a U.S. air strike or a mortar attack had occurred.
The deaths take to six the number of Reuters employees killed in Iraq since U.S.-led forces invaded the country in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein.

"Once again we are left mourning colleagues who have met an untimely death while doing their job in Iraq," said Reuters chief executive Tom Glocer.

"Our sympathies and thoughts are with their families, friends and colleagues today," added Glocer.
"Noor-Eldeen and Chmagh's outstanding contribution to reporting on the unfolding events in Iraq has been vital. They stand alongside other colleagues in Reuters who have died doing a job that they believe in."
Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger said the deaths were a tragic reminder of the risks journalists face in covering the war in Iraq.
"The job our reporters do is a critical one - telling the world what is happening on the streets of Iraq on a daily basis," said Schlesinger.
"Reuters will continue to do all it can to protect journalists who must work in dangerous and difficult conditions but still have a right to do their jobs."
Noor-Eldeen was single. Chmagh was married with four children.

Details of the previous killings of Reuters staffers in Iraq:
2003:
April 8 - Reuters Ukrainian cameraman Taras Protsyuk killed by a U.S. tank shell fired at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad.
August 17 - Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana, a Palestinian, shot dead by U.S. troops as he films outside Abu Ghraib prison.
2004:
November 1 - Dhia Najim, an Iraqi freelance cameraman filming for Reuters, killed in Ramadi. His colleagues and family said they believed he had been shot by a U.S. sniper. The U.S. military said he died in a gunbattle between Marines and insurgents.
2005:
August 28 - Waleed Khaled, a Reuters Television soundman is shot and killed in the Hay al-Adil district of west Baghdad. Cameraman Haider Kadhem is wounded. An independent inquiry commissioned by Reuters concluded in April 2006 that the soldiers' shooting of Iraqi television soundman Khaled appeared "unlawful".