WASHINGTON, August 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Palestinian Journalist Syndicate has called Monday, August 18, for forming an international committee of journalists to sue those responsible for killing reporters.

“We call upon all Arab journalists as well as international journalists to take the stand and resolutions through which U.S.-Israeli recklessness can be stopped. We call for the formation of an international committee to bring those responsible for such crimes to fair international prosecutions,” the syndicate’s communiqué stated.

“U.S. occupation forces have added to their records a new crime against humanity when they killed Mazen Dana, a Reuters cameraman,” the communiqué added.

“U.S. occupation’s intentional firing against reporters comes within a plan that aim to hide facts and target the conscience of Arabs ideally represented in the Palestinian reporter”.

Meanwhile, a New-York based press freedom group is demanding an investigation into the slaying of Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana, shot dead by U.S. forces as he shot footage outside a prison near Baghdad.

"The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for a full investigation into the shooting, and a public accounting of the circumstances," the group said in a statement Sunday, August 17.

"Mazen is the 15th journalist to lose his life while covering this conflict," said Ann Cooper, CPJ's executive director.

Dana, 43, a Palestinian cameraman for Reuters and father of four, was killed by U.S. soldiers riding on a tank as he was filming outside Abu Gharib prison, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).

The Pentagon confirmed Sunday August 17 that U.S. forces near Baghdad shot and killed a Reuters reporter in what appeared to be a case of mistaken identity.

"The incident is under investigation. It was not apparent in the beginning that it was a reporter," said Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ken McClellan.

"I don't know what the circumstances were. Obviously this coalition is not in the business of targeting reporters ... if he was shot there was something mistaking his identity."

McClellan said the injured reporter was pronounced dead on arrival at a U.S. military hospital, bringing to 15 the number of journalists killed on the job. Two others died while on assignment in Iraq.

Dana received a press freedom award from CPJ in 2001 for courageous reporting in his hometown of Hebron, in the West Bank, CPJ said.

"In the midst of frequent violence, and often under attack himself, Mazen was a calm but determined witness who took constant risks in order to tell the world the news from the West Bank - and, more recently, from Iraq," Cooper said.

Abu Gharib prison, 25 kilometers (15 miles) outside central Baghdad, has become a focus of anger at the U.S.-led occupation, with accusations that many of the 500 inmates are being held in horrid conditions.

Meanwhile, the body of the Reuters television cameraman was being prepared for return home Monday, August 18, the British news agency said.

A Reuters spokesman said Monday the company was preparing to have Dana's body repatriated.

"We are still trying to arrange to get the body out (of Baghdad)," he said. "The body will be back in Mazen's Palestinian home very soon."

A Reuters photographer Monday said coalition troops had taken Dana's body to the U.S. military's Camp Cropper at Baghdad airport immediately after he had been shot.

Earlier a U.S. government spokesman told reporters an inquiry was being carried into how the soldier fired at the cameraman.

"We are very sorry about what has happened. The soldier in question is under investigation," the spokesman said.

When asked if U.S. forces in Iraq were nervous, he replied: "Yes, because there have been lots of attacks on us."

The Reuters spokesman said Dana was shot at around 5:00 pm (1300 GMT) on Sunday. He was reporting on a mortar attack earlier in the day in which six Iraqis had been killed.

"He was working in broad daylight when it happened," the spokesman said. "He was simply standing outside the prison filming."

The incident has raised fears for the safety of journalists in Baghdad, not so much from attacks by disgruntled Iraqis but by coalition troops mistaking them for belligerents.

In particular, there is concern that troops are mistaking photographers' cameras for hand-held rocket launchers.

Reuters said Dana was one of the company's most experienced conflict photojournalists and had been awarded an International Press Freedom Award in 2001 by the Committee to Protect Journalists for his work in Hebron on the West Bank.

French journalist Stephan Breitner was at the scene when the Americans opened fire.

"There was a convoy of about four or five U.S. vehicles and a guy from a tank was shooting and he shot him (Dana) in the chest," Breitner told AFP.

"The bullet must have gone through him because I saw blood on his back."