- Thursday, May 02, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
AS India mourned the death of award-winning photo-journalist Danish Siddiqui in a crossfire between the Taliban and Afghan security forces in Kandahar on Friday (16), the extremist group said it had no information that Siddiqui was killed and expressed regret over the 38-year-old’s death.
Speaking to CNN-News18 on Friday, Taliban spokesperson Zabiulla Mujahid said, “We are not aware during whose firing the journalist was killed. We do not know how he died.”
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“Any journalist entering the war zone should inform us. We will take proper care of that particular individual,” Mujahid was quoted as saying by the channel. He regretted the journalist’s death saying, “We are sorry for Indian journalist Danish Siddiqui’s death. We regret that journalists are entering war zone without intimation to us.”
Pulitzer-winning photojournalist Danish Siddiqui killed in Afghanistan
Siddiqui, who worked for Reuters, was killed while covering a clash between the security forces and the Taliban fighters near a border crossing with neighbouring Pakistan, the news agency cited an Afghan commander as saying.
Afghanistan has seen a rise in violence as the US-led western forces have started exiting the country where they have been fighting terrorist forces for nearly two decades now. India has expressed deep concern over the development as it feels the Taliban’s closeness with arch-rival Pakistan would threaten its security interests in the region.
The Afghan commander told Reuters that the country’s special forces had been fighting to retake the main market area of Spin Boldak when Siddiqui and a senior Afghan officer were killed. It was reported that Siddiqui had told his editors that he had sustained a shrapnel injury in his arm and was recovering.
“We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region. Danish was an outstanding journalist, a devoted husband and father, and a much-loved colleague. Our thoughts are with his family at this terrible time,” Reuters president Michael Friedenberg and editor-in-chief Alessandra Galloni said in a statement.
PTI cited informed sources to report that the Taliban had handed over Siddiqui’s body to the International Committee of the Red Cross. It added that the Indian authorities have been informed about handing over the slain journalist’s body and they were working on the process to bring it back.
