The general secretary of the Mozambican Journalists Union (SNJ), Hilario Matusse, said the SNJ "strongly condemns" such attacks, which are "assaults against press freedom, democracy and the rights of peoples."

Salomao Moyana, head of the Mozambican branch of MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa), declared "the US aim is not simply to eliminate Saddam Hussein. It is to eliminate independent viewpoints too."

He noted that shortly before the invasion started, American officials were warning journalists that they should leave Baghdad. Among the spurious reasons given was that Saddam Hussein might take foreign journalists hostage.

"The Americans want the journalists out of Baghdad, so that they won't be able to report the truth," said Moyana.

"This is a very dangerous precedent," added Moyana.

Three journalists were killed in Baghdad on Tuesday in two separate incidents involving US-led forces leading the war in Iraq.

Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, 35, was killed when a US tank fired a shell into the media hotel where he was working.

Jose Couso, 37, a cameraman for Spanish television channel Tele5, was wounded in the attack and later died in hospital.

Al-Jazeera cameraman Tarek Ayoub was killed earlier in the day when a bomb dropped during a US air raid hit the satellite television station's office in the Iraqi capital. Another Al-Jazeera staffer was wounded.

Three members of the Reuters team in Baghdad were hurt in the tank shell blast at the Palestine Hotel.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2003)