A Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer for the news agency Reuters was killed Friday during a clash between Afghan forces and the Taliban.
Danish Siddiqui, an Indian national who had been embedded in the Afghan city of Kandahar with the country’s special forces, had been reporting on fighting between Afghan commandos and Taliban fighters when he was killed, Reuters reported.
Siddiqui was killed by Taliban crossfire near the border crossing with Pakistan as Afghan forces fought to retake the main market area of Spin Boldak, an Afghan commander told Reuters. Siddiqui, who had been wounded in the arm by shrapnel earlier on Friday, was talking to shopkeepers when the Taliban attacked again, killing him along with a senior Afghan officer.
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Photographer Danish Siddiqui capture children enjoying a ride at a fair in Mumbai, India, December 27, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Danish Siddiqui via Reuters
Reuters President Michael Friedenberg and editor-in-chief Alessandra Galloni said in a statement they’re still seeking more information about their colleague’s death.
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Danish Siddiqui, a Reuters photographer based in India, poses for a picture at Columbia University's Low Memorial Library during the Pulitzer Prize giving ceremony, in New York on May 30, 2018.
Mohammad Ponir Hossain via Reuters
“Danish was an outstanding journalist, a devoted husband and father, and a much-loved colleague,” the statement said. “Our thoughts are with his family at this terrible time.”
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A photo taken by Danish Siddiqui shows demonstrators take cover during a protest in Hong Kong, China August 31, 2019. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Danish Siddiqui via Reuters
Siddiqui covered crises all around the world, including Iraq, Nepal and Hong Kong. In 2018, he was part of the Reuters photography team to win the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis.
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A photo taken by journalist Danish Siddiqui captures anti-government protesters as they hold up their mobile phones during a “United We Stand” rally in Hong Kong, China, December 12, 2019. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Danish Siddiqui via Reuters
More than 60 media workers have been killed in Afghanistan between 2018 and 2021, the United Nations said in a report this year.
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Reuters photographer Danish Siddiqui, right, takes photographs while helping a flood-affected woman who is being evacuated from the upper reaches of Govindghat, India, Sunday, June 23, 2013. Afghan government forces battled Friday to retake a border crossing with Pakistan from Taliban insurgents, and the Reuters news agency said one of its photographers was killed in the area. Reuters said Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Siddiqui, who was embedded with the Afghan special forces, was killed Friday, July 16, 2021, as the commando unit sought to recapture Spin Boldak. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
via Associated Press
U.S. troops are expected to be out of Afghanistan by the end of next month after 20 years of war, despite the growing presence of Taliban forces retaking parts of the country.
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