Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, employed with news agency Reuters, was killed while reporting in Afghanistan’s Kandahar on Thursday night. 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.
Afghan special forces had been fighting to retake the main market area of Spin Boldak when Mr Siddiqui and a senior Afghan officer were killed in what was described as Taliban crossfire, Reuters reported quoting officials. In a string of tweets three days ago, the photojournalist, who won the Pulitzer in 2018 for his work on the Rohingya refugee crisis, reported how the vehicle he was traveling in was targeted and that he “felt lucky to be safe”. Condoling Danish Siddiqui’s demise, Farid Mamundzay, the 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.”
Danish Siddiqui had started his career as a television news correspondent and later switched to photojournalism. He was a photojournalist with international news agency Reuters and worked as a correspondent with the India Today Group from September 2008 to January 2010.
