Abbas, 32, an Iraqi cameraman working for the German television station Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), was killed on assignment in Fallujah, said Ulrich Tilgner, ZDF's Baghdad bureau chief. He said Abbas called the station to say he had filmed the bombardment of a house in Fallujah by U.S. forces and that he would be returning to Baghdad. Abbas called the station back a half hour later to say he had been caught in heavy fighting, then the phone line went dead, Tilgner said. The station learned of Abbas' death the next day, after his body was brought to a Fallujah mosque. Abbas also worked as a producer and editor for ZDF, a public television broadcaster.