Frattini and Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs described the deaths of the three as "regrettable and serious" and expressed their condolences.

Frattini said Italy had instructed its ambassadors in Washington and London "to signal to the US and British government that they must guarantee the physical safety of Italian journalists in Baghdad."

Italy was also to communicate to coalition forces where exactly Italian reporters were working in Iraq, he said.

"The press cannot be the target. The safety of reporters must be guaranteed," Frattini said.

Two cameramen, Taras Protsyuk, 35, from the Reuters news agency and Jose Couso, 37, of Spanish television station Telecinco, were killed after a US tank fired on Baghdad's Palestine hotel, where most foreign journalists are based.

Tareq Ayub, a 34-year-old correspondent for Arabic television network Al-Jazeera was also killed when a US missile crashed into the station's offices in Baghdad.

SPACE.WIRE