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donderdag, december 11, 2003



James Nachtwey gewond in Irak


foto Time handout

A senior reporter and a veteran photographer for Time magazine were wounded along with two U.S. soldiers when a grenade was tossed into their Humvee, the military and the magazine said Thursday.

Time senior correspondent Michael Weisskopf and contributing photographer James Nachtwey were traveling with a U.S. Army patrol in Baghdad on Wednesday night when the attack occurred, a statement from Time Managing Editor Jim Kelley said. A military spokesman said they were with a unit of the Army's 1st Armored Division.

The military official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said one of the journalists was severely wounded and the other was slightly injured. Time said both were in stable condition and were awaiting transfer to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

Nachtwey is an award-winning photographer known for haunting images of war and poverty. He was the subject of a 2001 Oscar-nominated documentary, War Photographer, and has won many awards. This year he shared a $1 million Dan David prize for documenting "the apocalyptic events of our time."

Weisskopf is an award-winning correspondent based in Washington. He covers national politics and investigations and was a finalist in the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting.

The Paris-based World Association of Newspapers has said that at least 16 journalists have been killed in Iraq this year. Many others have been wounded. In the last known incident, police said the editor of an independent newspaper in the northern city of Mosul was shot and killed on Oct. 28.

Bron: Associated Press.

Update 21.24: Weisskopf was seriously injured when he picked up the grenade and tried to throw it out of the Humvee, possibly saving the lives of the other people in the vehicle. Photographer James Nachtwey suffered shrapnel wounds. He was wearing a flak jacket at the time of the explosion.

Update 08.15: "Weisskopf picked the grenade up not knowing exactly what it was, but he knew he had to get rid of it quickly," said Judith Katz, Weisskopf's wife, who spoke with her husband yesterday. "I don't know what went through into his mind, but that's what he was doing."

Weisskopf was wearing body armor, she said, which may have prevented even more extensive injuries. Nachtwey's injuries -- including to the abdomen -- suggest his flak jacket did not protect him sufficiently or that, contrary to earlier reports, he wasn't wearing one.

Nachtwey in an earlier interview said: "I have been in situations which are chaotic and unpredictable and incredibly violent, and I am with people who are much more experienced than I am and they get killed. Sometimes my survival is sheer luck. And sometimes I think I have a guardian angel looking over me."





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