British journalist Terry Lloyd who reports for ITV News has been confirmed dead. Apparently ‘friendly fire’…
Totally NOT on. RIP :flower1:
ITN man ‘believed dead’
Terry Lloyd, a veteran war reporter
Missing ITN reporter Terry Lloyd is now thought to be dead, the news station has said.
Mr Lloyd, 50, was last seen being shot at in southern Iraq on the approach to the city of Basra.
A statement from ITN said: “We believe his body to be in Basra hospital which is still under Iraqi control.”
Mr Lloyd - whose family are originally from Wales - was the station’s longest serving reporter.
ITN said the fate of the other two men missing from his crew was unknown.
ITN chief executive Stuart Purvis said it was now understood Iraqi ambulances had taken the injured men away.
“We’ve been trying to get through to Basra hospital. There is now sufficient evidence to believe that Terry was probably dead at arrival.”
‘Friendly fire’
He said it was most likely that fire from US Marines had caused the fatality.
"Here is the man who first alerted the world to the horrors of Saddam Hussein by going to the village of Halabja and finding the Kurds gassed there.
“And this guy dies in the war that is meant to overthrow Saddam Hussein, not through the guns of Saddam Hussein but now we clearly know through so-called friendly fire.”
Cameraman Daniel Demoustier, who escaped with injuries, said they were hit by “friendly fire” aimed at about a dozen Iraqi soldiers who were killed.
The Ministry of Defence is investigating the incident - a spokesman said it was still unclear what had happened and he could not comment further on whether friendly fire was involved.
Then the whole car was on fire - we were enveloped in flames- it was terrifying
Daniel Demoustier
ITN cameraman
Mr Lloyd was an experienced overseas correspondent for ITN which produces news for ITV, Five and Channel 4.
As well as assignments in Lebanon and Cambodia, he was the first reporter to inside the Kurdish-held town of Halabje in northern Iraq after the chemical attack by Saddam Hussein which killed 5,000 people.
And ITN News won an award for his reporting from Kosovo.
Mr Demoustier told the Mail on Sunday the team - Mr Lloyd, cameraman Fred Nerac and local translator Hussein Othman - had passed through military checkpoints and been greeted in some areas by jubilant Iraqi civilians when they came across a group of Iraqi soldiers, who followed them.
"Immediately the allied tanks started heavy firing directly at us - rounds were coming straight at the Jeep, smashing the windows and puncturing holes in the bodywork.
“Then the whole car was on fire. We were enveloped in flames. It was terrifying.”
Mr Lloyd had been sitting in the same car, but vanished from the passenger seat as they tried to flee the firing, claimed Mr Demoustier who said he drove on until his vehicle caught fire and then he jumped into a ditch
