Medics tends to a foreign journalist seriously  wounded after a U.S. tank fired at a hotel filled  with journalists in Baghdad, Tuesday, April 8, 2003. The Palestine hotel took fire Tuesday after U.S.  troops said snipers were shooting at them from  the building. At least five journalists were injured, as earlier Tuesday a correspondent for the Al-Jazeera television network was killed when its Baghdad office was hit during a U.S. bombing campaign. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two journalists were killed and at least three were injured Tuesday when U.S. forces fired on their hotel in central Baghdad. The Americans said they were responding to fire in the area of the hotel.  A correspondent for the Al-Jazeera television network died in a separate attack.  The United States agreed later not to fire on the 18-story Palestine Hotel, where many members of the international media are staying to cover the war.  "We don't target journalists. But we will continue to target Iraqi military forces," said Capt. Frank Thorp, a Central Command spokesman in Qatar.  Abu Dhabi television showed damage next to a high balcony that appeared to have been caused by a tank shell or a rocket. Journalists in the building said they saw a tank aim at the building just before it was hit.

In a statement, the Reuters news agency said television cameraman Taras Protsyuk, 35, was killed in the blast. Protsyuk, a Ukrainian national based in Warsaw, had worked for Reuters since 1993 and had reported from conflicts in Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Kosovo.  "We are devastated by the death of Taras, who had distinguished himself with his highly professional coverage in of some of the most violent conflicts of the past decade," said Editor-in-Chief Geert Linnebank.  The Spanish television network Telecinco said its cameraman, Jose Couso, died after undergoing surgery. He was 37.

Tank fires into hotel from across the Tigres

The wounded were Reuters television satellite dish coordinator Paul Pasquale, of Britain; Samia Nakhoul of Lebanon, who was the Reuters bureau chief in the Persian Gulf; and Reuters photographer Faleh Kheiber, an Iraqi. Doctors said their injuries were not life-threatening. 

"Clearly the war, and all its confusion, has come to the heart of Baghdad," Linnebank said. "But the incident nonetheless raises questions about the judgment of the advancing U.S. troops who have known all along that this hotel is the main base for almost all foreign journalists in Baghdad." 

Some U.S. troops said they took fire from snipers on the rooftop of the hotel, while Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said the fire came from the lobby area. He later said it was uncertain where it came from. 
 

Two unidentified US Army soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division take a look at one of the many bathrooms at a presidential palace near the international airport, southwest of Baghdad(AFP/File/Romeo Gacad)

British soldiers set up their new southern Iraq  headquarters in Iraqi President Saddam Hussein palace on the Shatt al-Arab river in the Basra.(AFP/Odd Andersen)

Other soldiers said tanks were taking mortar and grenade fire from in front of the hotel, and saw binoculars trained on them from an upper floor. Suspecting a "spotter" post, they fired. 

Frightened reporters in flak vests ran from the hotel while their colleagues carried the wounded to the lobby. Al-Jazeera television showed two people being carried out on blankets and put into cars that took off, apparently for hospital. 

Troops told journalists they should hang white sheets from their hotel room windows. 
 

A boy loots a government store in the Iraqi capital Tuesday, April 8,  2003, as U.S. Army forces look on. Elsewhere in the city, American and Iraqi forces engaged in intense fighting for control of Baghdad  Tuesday. (AP Photo/John Moore)

Earlier Tuesday, a correspondent for the Al-Jazeera television network was killed when its Baghdad office was hit during a U.S. bombing campaign that some employees claimed say may have been deliberate.  Correspondent Tareq Ayyoub died after suffering serious wounds, the network announced. The office was heavily damaged by two missiles and another cameraman was injured, Al-Jazeera said.  The Abu Dhabi TV office in Baghdad was also targeted by U.S. bombing, the station reported. Officials at Abu Dhabi TV were not available for comment.