Spanish charges against U.S. soldiers thrown out

MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish court has thrown out charges against three U.S. tank crewmen for killing a Spanish television cameraman during the invasion of Iraq, it said on Tuesday.

The High Court said in a ruling approved by two judges to one that the soldiers had believed they were firing at an enemy when they shot a shell from their tank at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad on April 8, 2003, killing Telecinco cameraman Jose Couso and Reuters Ukrainian cameraman Taras Protsyuk.

The criminal case only dealt with Couso's death. His family said they would appeal.

"We have enough to go the Supreme Court," Couso's brother Javier told Spanish television.

A Spanish judge had charged Sergeant Thomas Gibson, Captain Philip Wolford and Lieutenant Colonel Phil de Camp in April 2007 and said they might be guilty of homicide.

A U.S. military investigation found the tank crew acted within their rules of engagement and the United States has said it will not extradite the three, who argue they fired because they thought they saw a spotter who was guiding in hostile fire.

(Reporting by Inmaculada Sanz, edited by Richard Meares)