Reuters journalist killed covering clashes between Afghan forces, Taliban

Reportedly, the Pulitzer Prize-winning chief photographer had been covering the Afghan-Taliban clashes for Reuters over the last few days.

Danish Siddiqui was killed in Kandahar province while on a reporting assignment embedded with Afghan security forces.

Afghan Special Forces were fighting to retake the main market area of Spin Boldak in the Kandahar district of Afghanistan when Siddiqui and another senior Afghan officer were killed.

Earlier in the day, Siddiqui told Reuters that he had been wounded in the arm by shrapnel while reporting on the clash.

However, he was treated and had been recovering when Taliban fighters retreated from the fighting in Spin Boldak.

In 2018, Danish Siddiqui and his colleague Adnan Abidi became the first Indians to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Based in Mumbai, Siddiqui graduated with a degree in Economics from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He also had a degree in Mass Communication from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre at the same institute.

Danish Siddiqui began his career as a television news correspondent and later joined Reuters as an intern in 2010.

Journalist's last tweets detailing his Afghanistan coverage.

The objective was to extract a wounded policeman trapped by Taliban insurgents on the outskirts of Kandahar city for the last 18 hours. The particular district is contested between the government and the Taliban. pic.twitter.com/97WUTtb8Ze

— Danish Siddiqui (@dansiddiqui) July 13, 2021

Rocket propelled grenades (RPG) and other heavy weapon were used by the Taliban against the convoy resulting in the destruction of 3 Humvees. Gunners atop the Humvees swivelled wildly, aiming fire at suspected Taliban fighters who were hard to see. pic.twitter.com/tLppGPrcfL

— Danish Siddiqui (@dansiddiqui) July 13, 2021

Got a 15 minute break during almost 15 hours of back to back missions. pic.twitter.com/Y33vJYIUlr

— Danish Siddiqui (@dansiddiqui) July 13, 2021