Here’s Reuters Palestinian propagandist Nidal al-Mughrabi, on the airstrike that injured two Palestinian journalists yesterday: Wounded cameraman tells of Gaza blast.

GAZA (Reuters) - The missile struck the “P” of the bright red “PRESS” sign on the roof of the armor-plated Reuters car as Gaza cameraman Fadel Shana hurried to film an Israeli raid. Shana saw only a sheet of flame and the doors of the vehicle fly open.

He regained consciousness in hospital on Sunday, hours after the missile strike, with shrapnel wounds in his right hand and leg. He could not hear in one ear because of the explosion. His eyes were swollen and red. “I am happy to be alive. I think I have been given another life,” said Shana, 22, from his bed.

The army said it had not known that journalists were inside the car and that it had aroused suspicion at night in an area of combat, where soldiers were searching for tunnels and explosives being prepared by Palestinian militants for attacks. “This car was not identified by the army as a press vehicle,” said army spokeswoman Captain Noa Meir. “If journalists were hurt, we regret it.”

Reuters, of course, wants an investigation.

Michael Lawrence, Reuters Managing Editor for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “We are deeply concerned at this attack on a clearly marked press vehicle as journalists were doing their job to report the story from Gaza.

“We understand that the army says it had no intention of targeting the media, but this incident is totally unacceptable and we urge a careful examination of how this happened to ensure there is no repeat.”

I’m still waiting to hear from Reuters about the results of their investigation into fraudulent and staged photographs.

What? There isn’t one?

UPDATE at 8/27/06 8:59:06 am:

The caption for this AP photo claims the Reuters vehicle was struck by two missiles.

Residents look at a press armored jeep after it was hit, according to witnesses, by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City early Sunday Aug. 27, 2006. Two missiles fired by Israeli aircraft early Sunday morning hit an armored car belonging to the Reuters news agency, injuring two television cameramen and three bystanders, Palestinian witnesses and hospital officials said. According to witnesses, the crew arrived to the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza cover a nearby Israeli raid when the missiles hit the car. The Israeli army said it was checking the report.(AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

UPDATE at 8/27/06 9:37:37 am:

Reuters is also demanding that the Pentagon re-open an investigation into the death of one of their employees in Iraq: Reuters seeks Pentagon probe on journalist’s death

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Reuters news agency urged the U.S. military on Sunday to investigate the killing of one of its journalists by American troops in Baghdad a year ago.

An independent inquiry commissioned by Reuters concluded that the soldiers’ shooting of television soundman Waleed Khaled on August 28 last year appeared “unlawful.” But the Pentagon has failed to respond to requests to review the local commander’s ruling, which said the firing of shots at the car was “appropriate.”

In April, Reuters gave the U.S. Defense Department the report, which found the soldiers’ own evidence did not support the commander’s conclusion. The report also criticized the military for “losing” vital video footage of the incident shot by the Reuters cameraman who was Khaled’s passenger. He was wounded and then arrested by troops.

“The Defense Department has ignored the independent report which concluded that U.S. soldiers breached their rules of engagement and the shooting of Waleed was prima facie unlawful,” said Michael Lawrence, Reuters Managing Editor for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Reuters calls on the U.S. government to conduct a full and objective investigation into the death of Waleed Khaled.”

The report by a former British military investigator working for The Risk Advisory Group (TRAG) said soldiers had fired from a rooftop at Khaled, 33, and cameraman Haider Kadhem, 23, as they sat in a stationary car while Kadhem filmed the aftermath of an attack on a police patrol through the windshield. They went on firing as Khaled, to show he posed no threat, reversed the car. Witnesses and ballistic evidence indicated that some of the 18 bullets to hit the car had been fired after it came to a halt.

The soldiers said they thought Kadhem’s palm-held camera might have been a grenade launcher, but were not sure.

TRAG said that, at that distance, the soldiers could not have seen what Kadhem was holding, and so could not justify opening fire under U.S. rules of engagement: “(It) was prima facie unlawful.”