Reuters photographer and Pulitzer Prize winner Danish Siddiqui was killed in skirmishes between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. Reuters President Michael Friedenberg and Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni wrote in a statement on Friday: "We are deeply sad to learn that our photographer Danish Siddiqui has been killed in Afghanistan." been on the road when they were attacked on Friday morning. A spokesman for the Kandahar provincial administration told the German Press Agency that the photographer was very likely shot by a Taliban sniper.
Siddiqui only showed how dangerous work in the highly competitive region is on Twitter at the beginning of the week with pictures and videos. Below is a video recorded in a moving car that shows the vehicle being hit by gunfire. The Reuters report said that Siddiqui had been wounded by a bullet in the arm on the Friday before the fatal attack. He was treated accordingly and was on the mend.
Siddiqui has been documenting several major crises for the international news agency Reuters since 2010 - from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to protests in Hong Kong. In 2018 he was part of a team of photographers that won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for photos of the Rohingya refugee crisis. He recently reported from India when corona patients died outside the doors of overcrowded hospitals during the violent second wave and hundreds of thousands of migrant workers fled a strict lockdown. "Danish was an excellent journalist, a devoted husband and father, and a very popular colleague," the Reuters statement said.