A Spanish High Court judge has issued international arrest warrants for three US soldiers over the death of a Spanish cameraman during the war in Iraq.
The three men were named as Sgt Thomas Gibson, Cpt Philip Wolford and Lieut-Col Philip De Camp.
The United States has cleared the men of any blame, although it acknowledges a shell was fired from their tank into the Palestine Hotel where Telecinco cameraman Jose Couso and Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk were killed.
Three other Reuters staff were seriously injured in the shelling of the hotel, the base for almost all foreign journalists in Baghdad at the time.
A US investigation concluded the men were justified in opening fire and US officials repeated that conclusion yesterday.
Previously, both Pentagon and State Department officials have said privately that there is no way the soldiers would be sent to Spain for trial.
Spanish Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar said he did not expect the judge's ruling to have any political fallout. Spain's relations with Washington were chilled by a decision by the new Socialist government last year to pull its troops from Iraq.