Danish Siddiqui is seen covering the COVID-19 pandemic in New Delhi, India, on March 30, 2020. Photo: Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Pulitzer-prize winning Reuters photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed Friday in Afghanistan while covering a clash between Afghan forces and the Taliban, Reuters reports.
Driving the news: An Afghan official told Reuters that Afghan special forces had been fighting to retake a market area near a border crossing with Pakistan. Siddiqui was killed alongside a senior Afghan officer in Taliban crossfire.
- Siddiqui had informed Reuters that earlier Friday he had been wounded in the arm.
- He had been talking to market workers when the Taliban started attacking again.
The big picture: Siddiqui had been embedded for the past week with Afghan security forces and had been covering the fighting between them and the Taliban.
What they're saying: "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," they added.
- "Reuters was unable to independently verify the details of the renewed fighting described by the Afghan military official, who asked not to be identified before Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry made a statement," Reuters writes.