NABLUS, West Bank -- An Israeli soldier shot and killed a cameraman with Associated Press Television News who was covering a skirmish between troops and rock-throwing Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday, witnesses said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment but said it was looking into the shooting.

APTN (Associated Press Television News) cameraman, Nazeh Darwazeh, is shown approaching a West Bank checkpoint in the city of Nablus, April 6, 2002. Darwazeh, aged 46, was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier while covering a skirmish between Israeli troops and rock-throwing Palestinians in Nablus, Saturday, April 19, 2003. (AP Photo/Odd Andersen,Pool)

Nazeh Darwazeh, 45, was filming clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians that began early Saturday. Doctors said Darwazeh died of a bullet wound to the head.

Video footage taken by a Reuters cameraman showed young Palestinian men running up an alley toward a parked armored personnel carrier. After they threw rocks at the vehicle, troops fired shots. Witnesses said several firebombs were thrown toward the vehicle, and later footage showed a small area in the back of it on fire.

The footage then showed a man with a rifle in green combat fatigues kneeling down between the armored personnel carrier and the wall of a house at the top of the alley. Witnesses identified the man as an Israeli soldier.

The footage showed him pointing his weapon toward the journalists. Seconds later, Darwazeh was seen lying in a doorway in a pool of blood.

He and other cameramen, still photographers and reporters had been at the bottom of the alley and were wearing brightly colored vests that said "Press." It was unclear whether there was anyone behind Darwazeh at whom the soldiers might have been aiming when he was shot.

"A soldier came from under the tank and shot towards us," said Hassan Titi, a Reuters cameraman who witnessed and filmed the shooting. Another witness, Sami al Assi, a cameraman with a local TV station, said "The Israelis shot him and aimed specifically at us."

Before the shooting, there were clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in an area near the alley. Seventeen Palestinians were injured, doctors said. Nablus has been a flashpoint of recent tensions between Israeli troops and Palestinians.

Dr. Hussam Johari of the Rafidieh Hospital said Darwazeh died from a bullet wound to his head. He had been shot above the right eye as he peered into the camera viewfinder, doctors said.

Reuters photographer Abdel Rahim Quesini said there were five photographers in the group that had been filming the clashes.

Darwazeh had lived in Nablus all his life and had worked for APTN for two years. He is survived by a wife, Raeda, and by five children ranging in age from 6 months to 9 years.

Darwazeh is the 27th AP journalist to die since the founding of the news cooperative in 1848. He is the fifth AP television cameraman or producer to be killed since Associated Press created its news video service in 1994.

The conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories remains one of the world's most dangerous assignments for journalists. Three have been killed in the last year alone.

Raffaele Ciriello, an Italian free-lance photographer, was killed March 13 in Ramallah by Israeli gunfire, according to reports by journalists and witnesses. Ciriello was the first foreign journalist killed while covering the current Palestinian uprising, which began in September 2000.

Imad Abu Zahra, a Palestinian freelance photographer was killed by army gunfire July 12 in the West Bank city of Jenin, witnesses said.

Issam Tillawi, a reporter for the Voice of Palestine, died Sept. 22 in Ramallah. Tillawi, a journalist and program host for the official Palestinian Authority radio station, was shot in the head by Israeli gunfire during protests.

Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press

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