Two French journalists wounded in Tripoli

Two French journalists have been shot and wounded while covering the fighting around ousted Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi’s compound in Tripoli, their employers said Wednesday.

Both men received hospital treatment in Tripoli and their lives are not thought to be in danger. They are to be brought back to France.

A French cameraman working for the state-owned France 2 network, Bruno Girodon, was hit by a bullet Wednesday as he worked near the Bab al-Aziziya complex, one of his editors Herve Brusini said.

Separately, the news magazine Paris Match announced photographer Alvaro Canovas had been shot through the thigh by an assault rifle round while covering Tuesday’s rebel assault on the fortified base.

His condition is stable and he has been evacuated to Tunisia, where tests revealed that “his femoral artery was not hit”, editorial director Olivier Royant said.

“He took a Kalashnikov round that passed through his upper thigh just as the rebels were entering Kadhafi’s headquarters,” he said.

News of the injuries came as around 35 more journalists managed to escape from a Tripoli hotel where they had been held hostage by Kadhafi loyalists.