Russian photographer killed in Iraq

MOSCOW, May 7 (Reuters) A Russian photographer has died along with six US troops in a bomb blast in Iraq, Russian Ambassador to Iraq Vladimir Chamov said today.

''Around 4 pm yesterday, a roadside bomb in Diyala province north of Baghdad struck a US armoured vehicle carrying American troops and a photographer, Russian citizen Dmitry Chebotayev,'' Chamov told Russia's Vesti-24 television channel.

''Unfortunately, information that he was killed in the blast was confirmed this morning,'' he told the station by telephone.

Chebotayev, a freelance photographer in his late 20s, is the first Russian journalist to be killed in Iraq since the conflict began and the first foreign journalist killed in the country since the start of the year.

Chamov said Chebotayev had worked for a foreign photo agency and had not reported to the embassy's consular service after arriving in Iraq.

Russia, which had close ties with Iraq's former ruler Saddam Hussein, has opposed the US-led military operation launched in 2003 to oust him.

But it maintains a strong diplomatic presence and Russian sub-contractors are active in reconstruction projects.

At least 9 Russian contractors and diplomats working in Iraq have died in four separate abductions since 2004.

Reuters SYU HS1914