MADRID, April 24: US Secretary of State Colin Powell has justified the US tank fire on a Baghdad hotel that killed two newsmen, including a Spanish cameraman, in a letter to Spain’s foreign ministry, a diplomatic source said Thursday.

The source quoted Powell as writing that “in any situation involving threat or fire, and involving the threat of losses, our forces had to defend themselves,” in a letter to Foreign Minister Ana Palacio.

The US secretary of state said the “use of force was justified (to respond) to hostile fire that seemed to be coming from a place that has since been identified as the Palestine Hotel.”

Two cameramen, Jose Couso who worked for the Spanish television channel Telecinco and Taras Protsyuk of Ukraine who worked for the Reuters news agency, were killed April 8 by US tank fire on the hotel that, at the time, housed a large part of the foreign press corps.

Washington has repeatedly said its soldiers fired in self-defence in response to Iraqi sniper fire.—AFP