MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A Spanish judge issued an international arrest warrant Wednesday for three U.S. soldiers, charging them with murder in the death of Spanish TV cameraman Jose Couso in Baghdad, Iraq.
Couso, who worked for Spain's Telecinco network, died at the Palestine Hotel on April 8, 2003, as U.S. forces advanced to take control of the city in April 2003.
Investigating magistrate Santiago Pedraz of the National Court will seek the extradition of the soldiers to Spain, a court spokeswoman told CNN.
They are wanted for "murder" and "a crime against the international community," according to the warrant, a copy of which was viewed by CNN partner network CNN+.
The warrant said the soldiers were assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division and identified them as Sgt. Thomas Gibson, commander of the tank that allegedly fired a projectile at the hotel where Couso was filming; Capt. Philip Wolford, Gibson's superior; and Lt. Colonel Philip D. Camp, the captain's superior, CNN+ reported.
It said the United States provided "no judicial cooperation" in trying to resolve the death of the cameraman.
The judge previously had sought to question the soldiers but received no response from U.S. authorities
In the past, European courts have issued indictments for war crimes for U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Wesley Clark and other military officers. The United States does not turn over its soldiers.
Couso was one of three journalists killed in two different buildings that day in Baghdad.
Also killed at the Palestine Hotel was Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, 35, a Ukrainian national based in Warsaw, Poland, the news agency said. Three other employees were wounded, it said.
Al-Jazeera television reporter Tariq Ayoub was killed at the Arabic language network's facilities on the other side of the Tigris River from the Palestine Hotel, near Iraq's Ministry of Information. Three other Al-Jazeera employees were wounded, the network said.
Al-Jazeera said its facilities were deliberately targeted, an allegation denied by U.S. Central Command.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe...ers/index.html