NEW YORK, March 9, 2007 (WAFA) - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it is concerned that two journalists were bruised by Israeli stun grenades at an Israeli military checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday.

It said that Rami al-Faqih, a correspondent for the local Al-Quds Educational Television, and Iyad Hamad, a cameraman for The Associated Press, were each hit this morning as Israeli border police fired at journalists covering a peaceful protest marking International Women's Day at the Qalandia checkpoint.

"We are troubled by these reports that Israeli border police deliberately fired at journalists," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "We call on Israeli authorities to thoroughly investigate this incident immediately and to instruct its forces to allow journalists to do their job unhindered."

Al-Faqih, who said he was holding a microphone with the station's logo, told CPJ he was hit in the foot and fell to the ground. Iyad Hamad, a cameraman for AP, was similarly injured when he was hit in the legs by a stun grenade.

The journalists said that Israeli border police fired deliberately at them, and noted that none of the protestors were hit by the grenades, which they said emits plastic shrapnel. Video footage, they said, showed that the journalists weren't among the demonstrators.

Israeli soldiers and border police have previously used stun grenades against journalists. Most recently, on February 26, Israeli soldiers fired several stun grenades at a group of around 12 photographers and cameramen, including Nasser Ishtayeh and Emilio Morenatti of the AP and Jaffar Ishtayeh of Agence France-Presse, to prevent them from covering its search and seizure operation in the West Bank city of Nablus.

A.D (20:30P) (18:30GMT)