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NPR's David
Gilkey and Afghan translator Zabihullah Tamanna were in an
Afghan army Humvee traveling between the provincial capital of
Helmand province, Lashkar Gah, and Marjah, when their vehicle
was struck by an 82mm rocket during a Taliban ambush, Shakil
Ahmad Tasal, a spokesman for the Afghan army's 205th Atal Corps
told Reuters.
The attack occurred around 2:30 p.m. local time and also killed
the vehicle's driver, an army soldier, Tasal said.
The pair were traveling on assignment with fellow NPR employees
Tom Bowman and Monika Evstatieva, who were both unharmed,
according to a statement from NPR.
Gilkey was an award-winning veteran of covering Afghanistan and
other conflict zones.
"David has been covering war and conflict in Iraq and
Afghanistan since 9/11. He was devoted to helping the public see
these wars and the people caught up in them. He died pursuing
that commitment," Michael Oreskes, NPR's Senior Vice President
of News and Editorial Director, said in a statement.
The road between Marjah and Lashkar Gah had only recently been
reopened by security forces after heavy fighting in the area.
The details of the attack and the journalists' deaths were
confirmed by the 205th Corps commander, General Mohammed Amin.
Helmand has been the scene of deadly fighting between Taliban
insurgents and NATO-backed government troops.
Afghanistan is among the most dangerous countries for media,
with at least 27 journalists killed since 1992, according to the
Committee to Protect Journalists.
In January at least seven employees of a major Afghan TV station
died in a suicide attack in Kabul, while the last foreign
journalist killed in the country was Associated Press
photographer Anja Niedringhaus, who was shot to death by an
Afghan policeman while covering the elections in 2014.
(Editing by Mary Milliken)
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