The uncle (L) and father of Reuters journalist, Waleed Khaled, cry over his his body at Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital after he was shot in the Iraqi capital's Al Ghazalea district August 28, 2005. Khaleed, a Reuters Television soundman, was shot dead in Baghdad on Sunday and a cameraman with him was wounded and then detained by U.S. soldiers. (Photo: Xinhua/REUTERS)

    BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhuanet)-- American forces killed a Reuters Television soundman and wounded a cameraman on Sunday in Baghdad, police said.

    An Iraqi police report, read to Reuters by an Interior Ministry official, confirmed the two had been shot by American troops.

    A United States military spokesman, Lt. Col. Steven A. Boylan, said the incident was being investigated, and an official statement indicated that the Americans were responding to an attack on an Iraqi police convoy when the journalists were shot.

    Waleed Khaled, 35, and cameraman Haider Khadem were shot while driving to the scene of the clash in the western Baghdad district of Adil, said Alastair MacDonald, Reuters' chief correspondent in Baghdad.

    "I heard shooting, looked up and saw an American sniper on the roof of the shopping center." the wounded cameraman, Haider Kadhem, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

    He was detained by United States troops and remained in custody 12 hours later, despite requests by Reuters that he be freed to receive medical attention for a wound in his back.

    The death brings to 66 the number of journalists and their aides killed in Iraq since the start of the invasion in 2003, said Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based news media rights group. Enditem

    (Agencies)