04/23/2005

APTN cameraman Saleh Ibrahim killed while covering fighting in Iraq

NEW YORK -- Associated Press Television News cameraman Saleh Ibrahim was killed today while covering fighting in Mosul, Iraq. Ibrahim was the 28th AP journalist to die in the line of duty since the news cooperative was founded in 1848.

"We are grief-stricken at the news of Saleh Ibrahim's death," said AP President and CEO Tom Curley. "His fervent dedication to reporting the complete story of Iraq at this historic moment inspired all who knew and worked with him. Our deepest sympathy goes to his family."

Ibrahim was the second staffer to die in violence in Iraq. Last Sept. 2, smail Taher Mohsin, an Iraqi driver who worked for the AP, was ambushed by gunmen and killed near his home in Baghdad. The reasons for the slaying have never become clear.

Curley said of Ibrahim's death: "AP will fully investigate this tragic happening so we can understand the circumstances under which it occurred."

Ibrahim was the sixth television cameraman or producer to be killed since AP created its news video service in 1994. The others were:

APTN cameraman Nazeh Darwazeh, killed on April 19, 2003, in the West Bank city of Nablus while filming clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians; APTN producer Kerem Lawton, killed March 29, 2001, when his car was hit by mortar fire near the volatile Kosovo-Macedonian border; APTN producer and cameraman Miguel Gil Moreno de Mora, killed May 24, 2000, when rebels ambushed his vehicle near Rogberi Junction in Sierra Leone; APTN producer Myles Tierney, killed Jan. 10, 1999, when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle at a checkpoint in Sierra Leone; Farkhad Kerimov, a Russian free-lance television cameraman covering the war in Chechnya for APTV, killed May 22, 1995.

contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720

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