U.S. Journalist Shot By U.S. Forces Near Mosul

NEW YORK (Reuters) – An Iraqi freelance cameraman who works for CBS News was shot and wounded on Tuesday in northern Iraq by U.S. troops who mistook his camera for a weapon, the U.S. military and CBS News said.

The cameraman and reporter suffered minor injuries when he was shot while covering a firefight for CBS in Mosul, CBS News said. It asked that the man’s name not be reported for his protection.

The U.S. military said in a statement from Mosul released at the Pentagon that U.S. soldiers had been involved in an engagement with at least one suspected insurgent who was “waving an AK-47 (assault rifle) and inciting a crowd of civilians.”

During the incident, “an individual that appeared to have a weapon who was standing near the insurgent was shot and injured. This individual turned out to be a reporter who was pointing a video camera,” the military statement said.

“Regretfully, the reporter was injured during the complex and volatile situation,” the military said, adding that the incident was under investigation.

The suspected insurgent was killed, …

The man … from Mosul, was taken to a U.S. military hospital where he was treated for what the military said were minor wounds [and is] expected to make a full recovery.