US troops ‘kill two workers from Pentagon-funded TV station’

AMERICAN troops shot dead two staff from US-funded Iraqi TV station Al-Iraqiya yesterday and wounded another in the central city of Samaraa, the station said.

Correspondent Asaad Kadhim and driver Hussein Saleh were killed and cameraman Bassem Kamel was wounded “after American forces opened fire on them while they were performing their duty”, Al-Iraqya said.

The station, which is funded by the Pentagon, interrupted its broadcasts last night and began airing only Koranic texts as a symbol of mourning.

Meanwhile, US army officials and leaders of the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah called on Sunni gunmen to surrender their weapons today or face an onslaught.

The US military committed not to resume its offensive in the Sunni Triangle city if the arms surrender takes place, a spokesman said. But US Major General Mark Kimmitt warned marines are prepared to attack and take Fallujah quickly if the deal falls apart.

In the statement, the Americans agreed to allow better access to hospitals and graveyards and ease the movement of “official ambulances” throughout checkpoints. Marines have said gunmen have been using ambulances to move around.

The US said it will also consider allowing families who fled the city to return, at a rate of 50 families a day starting today.

On another front, the US military began to reduce its forces outside the southern city of Najaf. The commander of the force said yesterday there were no plans to capture rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, holed up in the holy city.

A force of 2,500 Army troops deployed outside Najaf on April 13 on a mission to capture or kill radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is being replaced by a smaller force of around 2,000 soldiers.

Al-Sadr yesterday ordered a halt in all attacks on Spanish troops based in Najaf after Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero decided to withdraw his country’s forces.

Al-Sadr’s office called on Iraqis to “maintain the safety of the Spanish forces until their return home” and urged “the governments of the other armies taking part in Iraq’s occupation to follow the Spanish government’s example”.

Outside Najaf, US troops clashed with al-Sadr militiamen, who wounded two Americans.