US troops 'shoot Arabic TV men'

Al-Arabiya satellite TV was set up as a rival to al-Jazeera

The Arab satellite television channel al-Arabiya says US troops in Baghdad have shot dead one of its cameramen and wounded its correspondent.

Witnesses said the two men, both Iraqis, were in their car when another vehicle failed to stop at a checkpoint.

US troops then opened fire on both cars, al-Arabiya employees said.

The Dubai-based station said cameraman Ali Abdel Aziz was killed and correspondent Ali al-Khatib was wounded in the incident.

The driver of the al-Arabiya car, Ahmed Abdul Amiya, told Reuters news agency that he had already stopped in front of the US checkpoint when he saw another car speeding towards it.

"I tried to race away," he said, "and then the Americans started firing at random. They hit the first car and then they started shooting at our car."

US military officials said they had no immediate information on the incident.