Taliban Claims It Did Not Kill Indian Photojournalist Danish, Says ‘We Are Sorry’
Mumbai: The Taliban has claimed that it did not kill Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, and expressed regret over the death of a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist during clashes between its fighters and Afghan forces in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
“We are not aware during whose firing the journalist was killed. We do not know how he died,” Taliban’s spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid told CNN-News18 on Friday.
“Any journalist entering the war zone should inform us. We will take proper care of that particular individual,” Mujahid was quoted as saying by CNN-News18.
“We are sorry for Indian journalist Danish Siddiqui’s death. We regret that journalists are entering war zone without intimation to us,” he added.
Reuters journalist Danish Siddiqui was killed on Friday while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters crossing the border with Pakistan, the news agency cited an Afghan commander as saying. He was 38.
The Afghan commander told Reuters that Afghan special forces were fighting to capture the main market area of Spin Boldak when Siddiqui and a senior Afghan official were killed in what he described as Taliban firing.
Reuters reported that Siddiqui and a senior Afghan officer were killed as the Special Forces unit fought to retake the main market area in Spin Boldak.
“We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region. Danish was an outstanding journalist, a devoted husband and father, and a much-loved colleague. Our thoughts are with his family at this terrible time,” Reuters president Michael Friedenberg and editor-in-chief Alessandra Galloni said in a statement.
The Taliban handed over the body of Danish Siddiqui to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), news agency PTI reported, citing people familiar with the matter. India has been informed of the Taliban handing over the body to the ICRC and Indian authorities are working to bring it back.
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