Acclaimed Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed in Afghanistan on Friday covering fighting between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban in the Spin Boldak area closed to the Pakistan border.
Siddiqui was a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer with the Reuters news agency. The media outlet reported citing an army commander that Afghan forces were fighting to retake Spin Boldak when Siddiqui and a senior officer were killed in the crossfire.
The agency reported Siddiqui, an Indian national, had been embedded with Afghan special forces in Kandahar since this week.
Reuters President Michael Friedenberg and Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni said in a statement, “We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region.”
“Siddiqui was an outstanding journalist, a devoted husband and father, and a much-loved colleague. Our thoughts are with his family at this terrible time.”
Reuters journalist @dansiddiqui was killed while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters near a border crossing with Pakistan, an Afghan commander said https://t.co/Uq33s4rI5Z pic.twitter.com/DL0XG3CAok
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 16, 2021
Reuters said Siddiqui had earlier reported being wounded in the arm by shrapnel while covering the fighting. He was treated and had been recovering when Taliban fighters retreated from the fighting in Spin Boldak.
The agency said it was unable to independently verify the details.
Siddiqui was part of a team to share the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis.
The agency said he had worked for them since 2010, covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Rohingya refugees crisis, the Hong Kong protests, and Nepal earthquakes.
