Danish Siddiqui left behind, killed, says Afghan general
A former Afghan Special Forces commander said that in fierce fighting with the Taliban on July 16 in Kandahar, his soldiers withdrew from Spin Boldak and left behind Reuters photojournalists Danish Siddiqui by mistake after which he was killed. Siddiqui was embedded with the special forces’ unit in Kandahar when the Taliban attacked. According to Major-general Haibatullah Alizai, his soldiers withdrew and left behind Siddiqui, who was injured by shrapnel, and two commandos. He was evacuated for treatment, after which he was killed.
LONDON: As the Taliban’s campaign to reconquer Afghanistan was gathering pace in June, hundreds of people were dying in the fighting, and tens of thousands were fleeing. Danish Siddiqui, a 38-year-old star photojournalist for Reuters based in New Delhi, decided he wanted to help cover the story, telling a boss: “If we don’t go, who will?”
On Sunday, July 11, Siddiqui arrived at a base of the Afghan Special Forces in the southern city of Kandahar. There he embedded with a unit of several hundred elite commandos tasked with flushing out Taliban fighters who in the previous few weeks had been steadily capturing territory.
On Tuesday, July 13, Siddiqui joined a successful mission to rescue a policeman who was surrounded by insurgents. His convoy was returning when it came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades (RPGS). The Humvee he was
travelling in was hit by one of the RPGS. Three other vehicles were destroyed. Siddiqui captured on video the flash and jolt as a grenade struck the side of his vehicle and the commandos up front drove through the barrage.
On July 16, Siddiqui and two Afghan commandos were killed in a Taliban attack while on another mission, a failed attempt to retake the key border town of Spin Boldak. While some details about his death remain unclear, enough information has emerged to give an outline of events. First reports indicated Siddiqui was killed in crossfire while trying to take photographs in the bazaar at Spin Boldak. But an examination of Siddiqui’s communications with Reuters and accounts from an Afghan Special Forces commander show that Siddiqui was first injured by shrapnel from a rocket. He was evacuated to a local mosque for treatment. Major-general Haibatullah Alizai, who was the commander of Afghanistan’s Special Operations Corps told Reuters it was evident that, in fierce fighting, his soldiers withdrew from Spin Boldak and left behind Siddiqui and two commandos accompanying him, mistakenly thinking they had joined the retreating convoy. “They were left there,” Alizai said.
Afghan security officials and Indian government officials said based on photos, intelligence and an examination of Siddiqui’s body, his body was mutilated while in Taliban custody. Denying this, a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Siddiqui’s injuries occurred prior to the discovery of the body by Taliban fighters.