A Dutch news cameraman has been killed in the Georgian city of Gori. Stan Storimans, who has worked for RTL for 20 years, was killed in a Russian bombardment of the city in central Georgia. Reporter Jeroen Akkermans was injured in the leg.



News agency AP reports that Gori was bombed overnight by Russian forces who have occupied the nearby Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia.

The bombing hit a media centre that had been set up on the roof of the city’s television and radio centre, AP says. In total, five people are thought to have been killed in the attack.

Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen has summoned Russia’s ambassador in The Hague for an explanation. ‘My thoughts go to his family, especially his wife and two children,’ Verhagen said in a statement.

‘During my recent visit to Afghanistan I had a long conversation with Storimans and know him as a hardworking professional’.

Verhagen said the Dutch government condemns the ‘excessive use’ of violence in Georgia. ‘There is no military solution to this conflict, only a political one,’ his statement said.

‘The Netherlands supports the efforts of the French EU presidency… to enable the withdrawal of Russian and Georgian troops under international supervision and to negotiate a sustainable solution to the conflict.’

The BBC reports that Russia ordered an end to the military operations against Georgia on Tuesday afternoon.