OXFORD, England, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. troops should be prosecuted for the death of a British television correspondent shot during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a coroner ruled Friday.
Andrew Walker, an assistant deputy coroner in Oxfordshire, said he would ask the director of public prosecutions to consider criminal charges in the case of Terry Lloyd, who was working for Britain's ITN network, CNN reported. His Lebanese translator, Hussein Osman, was also killed outside Basra in March 2003 while cameraman Fred Nerac is missing and another cameraman survived.
Walker found U.S. troops deliberately fired on a minibus that was taking Lloyd for medical treatment after he was wounded in crossfire between U.S. and Iraqi troops. U.S. officials contend that the soldiers followed the rules of engagement.
"There is no doubt that the minibus presented no threat to the American forces. There is no doubt it was an unlawful act of fire upon the minibus," Walker said.
Lynn Lloyd, the correspondent's widow, called the firing on the minibus a "despicable, deliberate, vengeful act."
No U.S. soldiers attended the hearing, although written statements were submitted.
