Indian award-winning photojournalist Danish Siddiqui killed in Taliban attack

Kabul, July 16: Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar city on Friday. He was on a reporting assignment embedded with the Afghan Special Forces.

 

 

Farid Mamundzay, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to India, tweeted: "Deeply disturbed by the sad news of the killing of a friend, Danish Seddiqi in Kandahar last night. The Indian Journalist & winner of Pulitzer Prize was embedded with Afghan security forces. I met him 2 weeks ago before his departure to Kabul. Condolences to his family & Reuters."

 

 

Siddiqui was a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and had started his career as a television news correspondent and later switched to photojournalism. He was a photojournalist with the international news agency Reuters.

 

 

On June 13, he had reported that the vehicle he and other special forces were travelling in was targeted with at least 3 RPG rounds and other weapons. "I was lucky to be safe and capture the visual of one of the rockets hitting the armour plate overhead," he had said in of his tweets.

 

 

Danish Siddiqui was killed amid clashes between the Taliban and government forces, which have intensified as US-led international forces have been withdrawing from the area. The Taliban have captured several districts and border crossings in the north and west.

 

 

India has evacuated Indian staff and personnel from its consulate in Kandahar. The evacuation has been carried out in view of the "intense fighting near Kandahar city", the government said. This decision comes after there has been rapid advance of Taliban fighters, who have been controlling key areas in southern and western Afghanistan, triggering grave security concerns. Last Tuesday, the Indian embassy in Kabul had said there were no plans to shut the embassy or the consulates in Kandahar and Mazar-e-Sharif.