Danish Siddique, an award-winning Indian photojournalist who was Reuters’ chief photographer for India, was killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan on Thursday while on a reporting assignment in the conflict-ridden nation. For the last few days, he had been covering the war in Afghanistan and was embedded with Afghan security forces. Reports said he was killed in Spin Boldak, an Afghan district in Kandahar province bordering Pakistan, on Thursday.  

His last story which covered the fighting inside Kandahar city was a gripping account of the intensity of the war in Afghanistan’s population centers. While covering the story, he narrowly escaped when Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs) hit the Humvee he was traveling in along with security forces.

Farid Mamundzay, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to India, condoling his demise, tweeted: "Deeply disturbed by the sad news of the killing of a friend, Danish Siddiqi in Kandahar last night. The Indian Journalist & winner of the Pulitzer Prize was embedded with Afghan security forces. I met him 2 weeks ago before his departure to Kabul. Condolences to his family & Reuters."

Condolence messages poured in on social media, mostly by the Indian journalist fraternity, describing him as one of the most extraordinary photojournalists of recent time. 

In his profile on Reuters, Danish wrote, “What I enjoy most is capturing the human face of a breaking story.” From the Rohingya crisis, Delhi riots, to the Covid second wave, he remained to true these words on each of these assignments: capturing the human face of a tragedy.  His series of human photographs reflecting the intensity of India’s deadly second Covid wave had attracted global attention. 

Maanvi, a journalist, tweeted, “Anytime you saw a photograph that defined the turmoil in contemporary India, chances are that it would be taken by Danish...Terrible loss,” 

(SAM)