Updated at 9:30 a.m., Monday, May 7, 2007
Six U.S. troops, Russian photographer killed in Iraq
Associated Press
A Russian photographer was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb that also killed six U.S. troops, the editor of the Russian edition of Newsweek magazine said today.Dmitry Chebotayev, 27, was killed Sunday while traveling in a vehicle with American troops on a road between Baghdad and Baqouba, Russian Newsweek editor Leonid Parfyonov said.
Chebotayev, a freelance photojournalist who often worked for Russian Newsweek, was on assignment for the magazine at the time, Parfyonov said.
"It is a big loss for us," he told The Associated Press. "Everyone here loved him, and loved working with him. He was a cheerful person who loved life."
The U.S. military had said six soldiers and a European journalist were killed when a massive bomb destroyed their vehicle in Diyala province. Two U.S. soldiers were wounded, the military said.
Chebotayev often worked in dangerous places such as Iraq and Russia's war-scarred Chechnya region, Parfyonov said. He called Chebotayev "a very good photographer. He was a young guy who took risks, who often worked in hot spots."
Chebotayev is the only Russian journalist to have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, said Oleg Panfilov, director of the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations.
Iraq was the deadliest country for journalists in the past decade, with 138 deaths, the Brussels-based International News Safety Institute said in a March report. Russia was second, with 88, it said.
