Waldemar Milewicz

Waldemar Milewicz (August 20, 1956, Dobre Miasto, Poland – May 7, 2004, Latifiya, Iraq) was a Polish journalist and war correspondent.

Milewicz obtained a degree in psychology. In 1981, he began working at the Polish public television, TVP and in 1991, he began working for the news division. Producing television reports and documentaries, he travelled around the world to many areas of armed conflict, including Abkhazia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Chechnya, Ethiopia, Kosovo, Somalia and Rwanda. In particular, his documentary series Dziwny jest ten świat ("This is a Strange World") made Milewicz one of the best-known reporters in Poland. In 2003, he covered the Iraq War, staying at the Polish military base. Because of poor health, Milewicz had been planning to end his career as a war correspondent after the mission to Iraq. He was killed in a drive-by shooting in Iraq by members of extremist group Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad.

The Polish TV crew's car was returning to the Polish base camp at Najaf from an interview with insurgents in Baghdad on May 7, 2004. Travelling in a clearly marked press vehicle, they were followed by a group of armed men in another car. About 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Baghdad, the attackers caught up with them and opened fire from behind, riddling the journalists' car with bullets. Milewicz was hit first and died instantly. Another member of the crew, Mounir Bouamrane, an Algerian-Polish editor and translator who had been working for TVP for about 15 years, was killed in a second volley of gunfire when he left the vehicle. The crew's cameraman, Jerzy Ernst, was wounded in the arm by the second volley of gunfire while in the car, trying to remove Milewicz's body. Their Iraqi driver and guide Assir Kamel al Kazzaz escaped the attack unharmed.

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