List of journalists killed during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)

List of journalists killed during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) accounts for journalists killed while reporting about the war.

Char Dara District

Taloqan

D.-e Qaleh

Jalalabad

Jabal Saraj

Bamiyan

Kabul

Kandahar

Zhari

Tarin Kowt

Lashkar Gah

Nawa-I-Barakzayi

Places in Afghanistan where journalists were killed during the war. Blue pins mark the location where more than 1 journalist was killed in an attack. A gold pin marks the location for multiple attacks.

Afghanistan

Date	Name	Location	Notes	Refs
16 July 2021	Danish Siddiqui	Spin Buldak, Kandahar	Indian photojournalist and Pulitzer Prize winner, working for Reuters. He was killed along with a senior Afghan officer while covering Afghan Special Forces' attempt to retake an area from Taliban in Spin Buldak district of Kandahar.	[1]
11 May 2019	Mina Mangal	Kabul	Afghan journalist, activist and political advisor. Shot dead in Kabul under suspicious circumstances (possible honour killing).	[2]
30 April 2018	Shah Marai	Kabul	Afghan photojournalist working for the Agence France-Presse. He was killed along with several other journalists in an ISIL suicide bombing while covering the April 2018 Kabul suicide bombings.	[3]
5 June 2016	David Gilkey	Helmand Province	US photojournalist for NPR. Killed in Taliban ambush while traveling with a convey of Afghan soldiers. Initially thought to have been killed by an RPG, but further investigation showed that cause of death was severe burns.	[4]
5 June 2016	Zabihullah Tamanna	Helmand Province	Afghan Journalist working for NPR as an interpreter. Killed by gunfire during Taliban ambush along with another NPR journalist.	[4]
4 April 2014	Anja Niedringhaus	Khost Province	German photojournalist working for the Associated Press. She was shot by a man wearing a police officer's uniform while covering the country's 2014 presidential election.	[5]
11 March 2014	Nils Horner	Kabul	Reporter for Swedish Radio SR - He was killed during a talk with his Afghan translator on the street of the capital Kabul. He was war correspondent of the Swedish Radio station since 2001 and reported for them from the Afghanistan and Iraq war.	[6]
23 January 2014	Noor Ahmad Noori	Helmand Province	Reporter for Radio Bost - Noori was tortured and killed in Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province by an unknown assailant. His body was found in a plastic bag in a Lashkar Gah suburb.	[7]
21 February 2012	Sadim Khan Bhadrzai	Urgon District	The director of Radio Mehman – Melina was killed by an unknown assailant.	[8][9]
28 July 2011	Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak	Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan	A soldier from the International Security Assistance Force mistakenly killed Khpalwak, who worked for Pajhwok Afghan News and the BBC News, while clearing a broadcasting building of possible enemy.	[10]
24 June 2010	James P. Hunter	Zhari district, Kandahar Province	Killed while covering a foot patrol. The first US military journalist to die in the War in Afghanistan.	[11]
10 January 2010	Rupert Hamer	Nawa, Nawa-I-Barakzayi District, Helmand Province	The British Sunday Mirror war correspondent and his photographer were traveling with US troops when their vehicle hit an IED. Hamer died along with a US marine. His photographer survived with injuries as well as other injured soldiers.	[12]
30 December 2009	Michelle Lang	Kandahar, Kandahar Province	The Calgary Herald reporter was killed by an IED that was struck by the vehicle carrying Lang and 4 Canadian soldiers.	[13]
9 September 2009	Sultan Munadi	Char Dara District, Kunduz Province	An Afghan interpreter held captive with British colleague Stephen Farrell of the New York Times, Munadi was killed during the rescue attempt.	[14]
7 June 2008	Abdul Samad Rohani	Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province	The first Pajhwok Afghan News and BBC News journalist to be killed after being abducted and found dead the next day. His captors taunted him with the fate of Ajmal Naqshbandi before killing him.	[15]
15 January 2008	Carsten Thomassen	Kabul	The Norwegian journalist worked for Dagbladet and was killed in a Taliban terrorist attack on a hotel in the capital.	[16]
6 June 2007	Zakia Zaki	Jabal Saraj, Parwan Province	Shot in her home, she was the owner of a radio station and a critic of the Taliban.	[17]
8 April 2007	Ajmal Naqshbandi	Helmand Province	He was the fixer for kidnapped Italian-Swiss journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo of La Repubblica. His execution was the subject of a documentary film. The team driver Sayed Agha was also killed.	[18][19]
7 October 2006	Christian Struwe	Baghlan Province	Struwe and Fischer, who worked as freelance documentary filmmakers for Deutsche Welle, were murdered in their tent on the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the war.	[20]
7 October 2006	Karen Fischer	Baghlan Province	Fischer and her colleague Struwe were believed to be on their way to the Buddha statues in Bamyan Province that were destroyed under the Taliban. Their killing brought to three the number of German journalists killed in the war.	[20]
22 July 2006	Abdul Qodus	Kandahar	The camera operator for TV Aryana was killed in the second of two blasts from a suicide bombing.	[21]
26 November 2001	Ulf Strömberg	Taloqan, Kunduz Province	The Swedish TV4 camera operator was killed in a robbery of a house where several Swedish journalists were staying.	[22]
19 November 2001	Harry Burton	Between Jalalabad and Kabul	The Reuters and Australian photojournalist was killed in an ambush with colleague Haidari and two others.	[23]
19 November 2001	Azizullah Haidari	Between Jalalabad and Kabul	Reuters photojournalist and native of Afghanistan who died alongside three foreign journalists in an ambush.	[23]
19 November 2001	Julio Fuentes	Between Jalalabad and Kabul	Fuentes was on assignment from El Mundo when the vehicle he was sharing with his colleagues from Reuters and the Italian press was ambushed.	[23]
19 November 2001	Maria Grazia Cutuli	Between Jalalabad and Kabul	The Corriere della Sera reporter was traveling with colleagues from Reuters and El Mundo when they were ambushed.	[23]
11 November 2001	Pierre Billaud	Dasht-e Qaleh	The Radio Tele Luxembourg reporter was one of five journalists who were attacked while riding a tank while reporting. Three were killed and two survived the attack.	[24]
11 November 2001	Johanne Sutton	Dasht-e Qaleh	The Radio France International was the first female journalist to die in the War in Afghanistan. Killed in the same tank attack as Billaud and Handloik.	[24]
11 November 2001	Volker Handloik	Dasht-e Qaleh	The German freelance journalist was one of three to die in the tank attack. Two journalists, Australian Paul McGeough and French Véronique Reyberotte, survived.	[24]

See also

• War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
• Human rights in Afghanistan