Mazen Dana, 41, was killed while filming a mortar attack by Iraqi insurgents loyal to the former regime on a prison in the Iraqi capital, which left six Iraqis dead and 60 wounded.
Dana, a Palestinian, was filming the prison, which the US has been using to house looters and prisoners of war.
He caught his own final moments on camera as he filmed two US tanks coming towards him. The tanks opened up on Dana, who fell to the ground. It was only as the US soldiers moved closer they realised they had shot a journalist.
Dana was airlifted by military helicopter to a US army hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival. His death brings the total number of journalists killed covering the war in Iraq and its aftermath to 17.
Dana's sound engineer, Nael al-Shyoukhi, said that the pair had spoken to a US soldier near the prison shortly before the shooting. "They saw us and they knew about our identities and our mission," he said.
In a statement, Stephen Jukes, Reuters' global head of news, said: "Mazen was one of Reuters' finest cameramen and we are devastated by his loss. He was a brave and an award-winning journalist, who had worked in many of the world's hotspots."
Dana lived with his family in the West Bank and has previously been honoured by the Committee to Protect Journalists with an International Press Freedom Award in November 2001.
He had previously been shot three times while working and most recently was shot by Israeli troops with a plastic bullet while filming Palestinian youths throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers in Hebron in the West Bank in 2000.
"Words and images are a public trust and for this reason I will continue with my work regardless of the hardships, even if it costs me my life," Dana said after accepting the International Press Freedom Award.
Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ken McClellan said: "Obviously, this coalition is not in the business of targeting reporters... if he was shot there was something mistaking his identity."
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