By Staff, Agencies

Investigations by two news organizations and two human rights groups made public on Thursday said that it was ‘Israeli’ tank shells that in October killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and injured six other journalists in South Lebanon.

The reports by Reuters, AFP, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch drew on forensic analysis, witness testimony and interviews with government officials, lawyers and medical professionals.

The findings are in line with a CNN analysis of the events conducted at the time. A CNN team that was nearby in South Lebanon reported at the time that the projectile that hit the journalists on October 13 came from the ‘Israeli’ side.

AFP and HRW said in their reports that the strike was a “deliberate,” targeted attack by ‘Israel’ on the journalists.

Abdallah, 37, was martyred and six other reporters were wounded while filming the ‘Israeli’ border from South Lebanon. AFP photographer Christina Assi had her leg amputated and remains in the hospital, according to AFP.

After analysis of weapon fragments found at the scene, the reports said the journalists were killed and wounded by a 120 mm tank round of ‘Israeli’ origin “that is not used by any other groups in the region,” AFP added, fired from a little over one kilometer from the teams’ position.

According to official statements and CNN’s video analysis and geolocation of the incident, at least six other journalists from AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera all wearing body armor clearly labeled as “press” were injured in the blast.

Al Jazeera has accused the Zionist military of “deliberately targeting the journalists to silence the media,” saying the attacks are a part of “a pattern of ‘repeated atrocities’ against journalists.”

Amnesty International’s investigation did not find “any indication that there were any fighters or military objectives at the site of the strikes.”

A Lebanese security source told CNN on October 13 that an ‘Israeli’ Apache helicopter was seen over the site of the attack – an assertion that was repeated in the investigations released on Thursday.