Journalists Are Victims Of War Story

At least one journalist died, another was wounded and three others went missing Saturday in Iraq.

An Australian cameraman was killed by a car bomb in northern Iraq, where Kurdish militiamen — assisted by American advisers and occasional air support — are fighting Ansar al-Islam, a group the United States claims is linked both to al Qaeda and the regime of Saddam Hussein.

The British network ITN says three of its journalists went missing after crossing the border from Kuwait into Iraq.

Hundreds of journalists are positioned as witnesses to the U.S.-led war against Iraq, in all its phases: at bases in Kuwait and headquarters in Qatar, on warships at sea, or traveling with coalition units.

Others are reporting outside the system created by the Pentagon, moving independently along the southern border or in the northern region controlled by the Kurds.

A few others remain in Baghdad.

The Australian cameraman, Paul Moran, was working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A colleague, Eric Campbell, was wounded in the same attack, which killed four others.

According to a statement from the network, the three ITN journalists who are missing are Terry Lloyd, Fred Nerac and Hussein Othman. The group came under fire as it headed toward Basra. One member of the team, Daniel Demoustier, was hurt but escaped.

Besides getting caught up in the shooting, members of the press have also become embroiled in the politics of the war. CNN's team in Baghdad was expelled Saturday; it was not clear why.

At one point Saturday, U.S. Central Command reported that three other reporters — two Americans and a Frenchman — were killed in southern Iraq. That report appears to have been erroneous.