REUTERS CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER, DANISH SIDDIQUI KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Danish Siddiqui died covering the situation in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Danish Siddiqui was Reuter’s chief photographer and had been covering the Afghan-Taliban clashes for Reuters over the last few days.

Afghan Special Forces were fighting to retake the main market area of Spin Boldak when Siddiqui and a senior Afghan officer were killed in what they described as “Taliban crossfire”, the official told Reuters news agency on Friday.

“We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region,” Reuters President Michael Friedenberg and Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni said in a statement.

“Danish was an outstanding journalist, a devoted husband and father, and a much-loved colleague. Our thoughts are with his family at this terrible time.”

Earlier in the day, Siddiqui told Reuters that he had been wounded in the arm by shrapnel while reporting on the clash. He was treated and had been recovering when Taliban fighters retreated from the fighting in Spin Boldak.

Mr. Siddiqui had been talking to shopkeepers when the Taliban attacked again, an Afghan commander told Reuters.

Three days ago, the photojournalist, who won the Pulitzer in 2018 for his work on the Rohingya refugee crisis, reported how the vehicle he was traveling in was targeted and that he “felt lucky to be safe”.

Mr. Siddiqui graduated with a degree in Economics from Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia. He had a degree in Mass Communication from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre at Jamia in 2007.

He started his career as a television news correspondent, switched to photojournalism, and joined Reuters as an intern in 2010.