Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Insider Attack On Women Journalists in Afghanistan

Insider Attack On Women Journalists in Afghanistan
tags: Timeline 2014, arab or muslim suspect, Islamist, insider attack, women targeted, Journalist Targeted , Afghanistan, German, Canadian, elections, motive unclear, lone gunman, surrender-arrest

April 4, 2014 Insider Attack On Women Journalists in Afghanistan A gunman shot two foreign AP women journalists in eastern Afghanistan. German photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus was killed while Canadian Kathy Gannon was critically wounded . The attack comes on the eve of Afghanistan's elections . Afghan police unit commander named Naqibullah walked up to their car and opened fire while yelling “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great); shooting the two women in the back seat. After the attack, the officer surrendered, and was taken into custody. One rumored motive was revenge for a U.S. airstrike that killed some of the gunman's family. The murder came after a Taliban-allied group claimed credit for the murder of Nils Horner who was executed in broad daylight, and guesthouse used by foreigners in the capital as well as  attacking an elections office in Kabul.

Reference: 


Niedringhaus was killed at the age of 48 in an attack in Afghanistan, while covering the country's 2014 presidential election.[3][7] Fellow AP journalist, Kathy Gannon, a 60 year old Canadian, was seriously injured in the attack and underwent emergency surgery. The attack took place at a checkpost on the outskirts of Khost city in Tani District, where the journalists were part of an independent election commission convoy delivering ballots under the protection of the Afghan National Army and Afghan police. While the two were waiting in the car, an Afghan police unit commander named Naqibullah walked up to their car and opened fire while yelling “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great); shooting the two women in the back seat. After the attack, the officer surrendered, and was taken into custody.[8][9]



    1. RT ‎- 5 days ago
      A gunman dressed as a police officer shot two foreign journalistsin eastern Afghanistan, killing one and injuring the other critically. AFP reports ...


  1. Two Associated Press journalists shot in Afghanistan | World news ...

    www.theguardian.com › News › World news › Afghanistan

    The Guardian
    5 days ago - An Afghan police officer has shot dead a foreign photographer and badly ... Press in a police headquarters in Khost province, after the women arrived ... Less than two weeks later the leading Afghan reporter Ahmad Sardar ...
  2. BBC News - Afghan policeman shoots dead AP reporter Niedringhaus

    www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26881347

    5 days ago - An Afghan police officer kills a veteran Associated Press ... Two journalists working for the Associated Press news agency have been ... The interior ministry said the officer who shot the women had commanded a police unit, ...
  3. AP journalist killed, another wounded on eve of Afghanistan elections

    www.cnn.com/2014/04/04/world/asia/afghanistan-journalists-shot/

    CNN
    5 days ago - Two journalists working for The Associated Press have been shot in ... attack on the two women journalists comes on the eve of Afghanistan's elections ... by the Afghan National Army and Afghan police, according to the AP.
  4. Two female Western journalists shot in Afghanistan ... - Yahoo News

    news.yahoo.com/two-female-western-journalists-shot-afgha...

    Yahoo! News
    5 days ago - From Yahoo News: Khost (Afghanistan) (AFP) - An Afghan policecommander on Friday shot dead a female German photographer working for 


  5. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kathy-gannon-canadian-reporter-wounded-and-photographer-killed-in-afghanistan-1.2597928
  6. Niedringhaus covered conflict zones including Kuwait, Iraq, Libya, Gaza and the West Bank during a 20-year stretch, beginning with the Balkans in the 1990s. She had travelled to Afghanistan numerous times since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, and received numerous awards for her work.
    • Acclaimed German photographer Anja Niedringhaus, seen in this 2011 portrait, was killed Friday in Eastern Afghanistan. Niedringhaus was working with Canadian reporter Kathy Gannon when a police officer fired on their car. Gannon was wounded but is in stable condition. Here is a retrospective of Niedringhaus's recent work.
    1 of 15
    The two journalists were travelling in a convoy of election workers delivering ballots from the centre of Khost to the outskirts,​in Tani district. The convoy was protected by the Afghan army and Afghan police.Niedringhaus andGannon were in their own car with a freelancer and a driver.
    According to Pasha, the two had gone to shoot footage of the ballots for potential pieces on the upcoming nationwide elections. When it began to rain heavily, they decided to wait in their car to protect the camera equipment.

    As they were in the car waiting for the convoy to move, a unit commander named Naqibullah walked up, yelled "Allahu Akbar" — God is great — and opened fire on them in the back seat with his AK-47. He then surrendered to other police and was arrested....he shooter did not fire into the front of the vehicle — only into the back seats where Gannon and Niedringhaus were sitting. 
    "Whether it was because they are foreigners, or because they were journalists, I can't be sure ... but I know I feel very sad for Anja's life," he said.
    According to freelance journalist Kate Clark, who had worked with both Gannon and Niedringhaus and knows them personally, a potential motive for the shooting was revenge for a U.S. airstrike that killed some of the gunman's family in Panwar province, northwest of Kabul...
  7. News of Friday's shooting comes on the heels of two other high-profile, brazen daylight murders of foreign journalists in Kabul. 
  8. Gannon Afghanistan
    The lone gunman specifically targeted Gannon and Niedringhaus, who were sitting in the back of this vehicle waiting out a downpour. There are reports that personal revenge for a U.S. air strike was the possible motive for the attack. (Reuters)
    ​Serena Hotel, a popular spot for foreigners in Kabul, on March 21. A week earlier, Swedish journalist Nils Horner was executed in broad daylight outside an oft-frequented café

  9. comment: 
  10. santron

  11. TRUE PROFESSIONALS

    Attack on messengers reveals the Taliban's fear of elections being held peacefully and democratically in Afghanistan, contrary to its fundamental views that come into conflict with representative rule. By attacking journalists, the Taliban probably hopes to prevent news of successful elections in Afghanistan from beng spread around the world.

    Invoking Allah's name before shooting down the female journalists is a sad commentary on the attitude of some men in that male-dominated country towards women in general and journalist in particular. After all, it was the same God that created both men and women.

    The two women journalists deserve thanks and appreciation for their work despite serious threats to their own safety. They have demonstrated true professionalism

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