Journalists detained by US forces in Iraq.

"U.S. soldiers detained an Associated Press photographer and driver on Tuesday, handcuffing them, forcing them to stand in the sun for three hours and denying them water or use of a telephone," a New York Times report said yesterday.

Human rights Watch said: As attacks against them continue, U.S. soldiers are sometimes resorting to deadly force in a reckless and indiscriminate way," said Joe Stork, acting executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division. "This puts all civilians, not just journalists, at grave risk.