Police official: US troops open fire on journalist and her husband, killing both

BAGHDAD - U.S. troops opened fire on a car in western Baghdad, killing an Iraqi journalist and her husband, a police official said Thursday.

Morgue officials confirmed the deaths and said the bodies of Aseel al-Obeidi and her husband were riddled with bullets in Wednesday's shooting in the Tobchi neighbourhood.

Al-Obeidi worked for Dijla television, an independent Baghdad station that recently closed because of financial problems.

The U.S. military said it was investigating the killing of two Iraqis during a joint patrol by American and Iraqi troops in western Baghdad on Wednesday, but it did not give any details or confirm if that was the same shooting that involved the journalist and her husband.

The Iraqi police official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists.

The Iraqi journalists' union denounced the killings and blamed U.S. troops. It demanded police investigate and publicize the circumstances of the shooting.

U.S. killings of Iraqi civilians have frequently been a flash point in relations, but such incidents have ebbed as American troops assume a lower profile as part of the Obama administration's withdrawal plans.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 140 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. That figure does not include Wednesday's death.