Danish Siddiqui, a Reuters photojournalist, was killed during clashes that ensued in Afghanistan's Spin Boldak district in Kandahar on Friday.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian journalist was covering the situation in Kandahar amid the country's internal security situation over the last few days. He was killed during a reporting assignment embedded with the Afghan Special Forces.
Afghan forces clashed with Taliban militants in Spin Boldak following an operation launched to reclaim an important border crossing with Pakistan on Friday. The clashes between the Taliban and government forces have intensified following the US military's withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Taliban have captured many districts and border crossings in the north and west parts of the country.
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The Indian photojournalist died when the forces came under attack from Taliban fighters amid heightened tension in the area.
On June 13, Danish Siddiqui reported that a vehicle and other special forces were travelling in was attacked with at least 3 rocket propelled grenades (RPG) and other "heavy" weapons. "I was lucky to be safe and capture the visuals of one of the rockets hitting the armour plate overhead," the photojournalist said in one of his tweets.
Danish Siddiqui's last story was regarding a mission in which Afghan commandos were attempting to extract a wounded cop trapped trapped by Taliban militants on the outskirts of Kandahar.
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Danish Siddiqui, along with his colleague Adnan Abidi, became the first Indian to win the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis.
He started his career as a television news correspondent but later moved to photojournalism. Danish Siddiqui was lately working as a photojournalist with Reuters and worked as a reporter with the India Today Group from September 2008 to January 2010.
As a photojournalist, he covered several issues across the world ranging from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hong Kong protests, Rohingya refugee crisis, and Nepal earthquakes.