Rome, April 9, IRNA -- Italian daily La Estempa said on Wednesday the 
killings of journalists in Baghdad by the Americans was deliberate.   
    Three journalists were killed and three others wounded in Baghdad 
after they came under fire on Tuesday, bringing the media death toll  
in Iraq to 12.                                                        
    Fernandino Pelgrini, a journalist now in Baghdad to report news   
on the US war on Iraq, alleged the US had deliberately targeted a     
group of newsmen for objective reporting of the events, taking place  
in Iraq.                                                              
    The fact that two Ukrainian and one Spanish journalist were killed
in the US attack on the hotel where they were staying was indeed an   
action by the US to muzzle the outspoken journalists, he said.        
    The Americans claims that they they have targeted the Palestine   
Hotel after they came under fire by men taking ambush there are       
"sheer lies."                                                         
    The Italian state-run radio said there were no armed men in the   
hotel to open fire on Americans, he said adding that those who        
launched attack on the hotel were informed of the fact.               
    The radio condemned the attack on the journalists and termed it a 
violation of free press and human values.                             
    It was a blatant violation of human rights and press freedom, it  
said.                                                                 
HB/JB                                                                 
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