US journalist killed in southern Afghanistan
On 6 June, Afghanistan President, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, condemned the killing of a US journalist and his Afghan translator in Helmand province. David Gilkey, who worked for NPR, and his translator and fellow journalist, Zabiullah Tamana, were embedded in an army convoy. Militants targeted the vehicle they were travelling in, killing them both. A statement from the president read: “By indiscriminately targeting journalists the Taliban show their increased atrocity against harmless civilians. Tamana and Gilkey, who were on the front line to report about the truth, themselves became victims of Taliban brutality.” Gilkey is the second US journalist to be killed covering the conflict in Afghanistan. Journalists have been targeted or caught in crossfire previously; figures vary on the numbers killed ranging from 27 since 1992 to 50 since 2000.

KABUL, Afghanistan — An American journalist for NPR was killed on Sunday afternoon along with his Afghan translator in a Taliban ambush in southern Afghanistan, the Afghan military confirmed. NPR also confirmed their deaths on Sunday.

The victims were identified as David Gilkey, a photographer and videographer who was part of a four-person NPR team embedded with Afghan Special Forces in Helmand Province, and his translator, Zabihullah Tamanna. The other two American journalists on the team were unhurt.

Mr. Gilkey was the first civilian American journalist killed during the 15-year-long Afghan conflict; since 1992, at least 27 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. In 2010, James P. Hunter, a staff sergeant and journalist with the 101st Airborne Division, was killed by an improvised explosive device.