Reu
t
ers
journalist
Danish Siddiqui
died on Friday while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters near a border crossing with
Pakistan
, an Afghan commander reported.
Afghan special forces were fighting to retake the main area of the
Spin Boldak
market
when
Siddiqui
and a senior Afghan official were killed in a Taliban crossfire, the official told Reuters.
Siddiqui
had been embedded as a journalist since earlier this week with Afghan special forces based in the southern province of
Kandahar
reporting on fighting between Afghan commandos and Taliban fighters.
"We are urgently seeking more information, working with the authorities in the region," Reuters President
Michael Friedenberg
and director
Alessandra Galloni
said in a statement
.
"Danish was an outstanding journalist, a devoted husband and father, and a very dear colleague. Our thoughts are with his family at this terrible time."
Attack in a market
Siddiqui reported to Reuters that he had been wounded in the arm by shrapnel early Friday while reporting on the clash.
He was treated and was recovering when the Taliban fighters withdrew from the fighting at
Spin Boldak
.
Siddiqui was speaking to the merchants when the Taliban attacked again, according to the Afghan commander.
Reuters has not been able to independently verify the details of the resumption of fighting described by the Afghan military official, who asked not to be identified before the
Afghan Defense Ministry
made a statement.
Siddiqui was part of the
Reuters
photography team
that won the
2018 Pulitzer Prize for Photography
for documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis.
A Reuters photographer since 2010, Siddiqui's work covered the wars in
Afghanistan
and
Iraq
, the
Rohingya
refugee crisis
, the
Hong Kong
protests
and the earthquakes in
Nepal
.
Taliban fighters had captured the border area on Wednesday, the second-largest crossing on the border with
Pakistan
and one of the most important objectives they have achieved during a rapid advance across the country as US forces withdraw.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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