US journalist David Gilkey, translator killed in Afghanistan

This May 29, 2016, photo shows David Gilkey, a veteran news photographer and video editor for National Public Radio photographer, at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. (Inset) This June 2, 2016

photo obtained June 5, courtesy of National Public Rado shows NPR interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna (left) and reporter David Gilkey in Afghanistan. (AP/AFP) Award-winning American journalist David Gilkey and his translator were killed Sunday while traveling with an Afghan army unit that came under fire in southern Helmand province, in a sign of just how dangerous the conflict remains for the media trying to cover it.

The translator was identified as Zabihullah Tamanna, 38. Two other National Public Radio journalists traveling with Gilkey in a separate vehicle, reporter Tom Bowman and producer Monika Evstatieva, were unharmed.

NPR said the vehicle in which Gilkey, 50, and his translator were traveling was struck by shellfire near the town of Marjah.

A Taleban hotbed, the opiumrich province of Helmand is almost entirely under the control of insurgents.

“David has been covering war and conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11. He was devoted to helping the public see these wars and the people caught up in them. He died pursuing that commitment,” said Michael Oreskes, NPR’s senior vice president of news and editorial director.

“As a man and as a photojournalist, David brought out the humanity of all those around him. He let us see the world and each other through his eyes.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a press freedom group, said that prior to the deaths of Gilkey and Tamanna, 24 journalists and one media worker have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001 US-led invasion.

Reports said Gilkey was the first non-military American journalist killed since the start of the conflict. (AFP)