Journalist, Sayed Hamid Noori

Sayed Hamid Noori

KABUL, Afghanistan — Police are investigating the murder of a well known Afghan journalist who was found outside his Kabul home this weekend covered in stab wounds.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement ordering authorities to spare no effort in bringing Sayed Hamid Noori's killers to justice. Noori had once been an anchor for state television and a newspaper editor. More recently, he held a leadership position in Afghanistan's Association of Independent Journalists and teacher of young journalists.

Reporters in Afghanistan face pressure from the government, local politicians and Taliban insurgents, all of whom look askance at negative reporting. At least 20 Afghan journalists have been killed and 200 physically assaulted in the past decade, with scores more leaving the profession or fleeing the country amid threats to their safety.

It wasn't clear whether Noori's killing was linked to his professional life.

Abdul Hameed Mubarez, head of the journalist's association of which Noori was vice president, said Noori had left his home at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday after receiving a series of phone calls, suggesting that he either knew his assailants or had been set up. He said Noori's body was found a few feet (meters) away, covered in stab wounds.

"So far nobody knows who is behind this," Mubarez said.

Journalist, James Hunter killed

James Hunter

James Hunter, 25, was a staff sergeant and journalist with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. He was killed by an improvised explosive device while covering his unit's foot patrols in Kandahar. He was the first Army journalist killed in action in Afghanistan since U.S. military operations began in October 2001.

Hunter would escort visiting journalists at times, but Kimberly Warren, editor of The Fort Campbell Courier, who worked with Hunter for about three years, said he frequently filed stories and photographs for her paper.  

The Courier serves troops stationed at Fort Campbell (on the border of the U.S. states of Kentucky and Tennessee) and the base's surrounding civilian communities. The Associated Press quoted Hunter's colleagues as saying that Hunter also wrote, edited, and designed a monthly magazine. 

Hunter was on his first deployment to Afghanistan when he was killed. He had served twice in Iraq, Warren said.

Journalist, Rupert Hamer

Rupert Hamer

Rupert Hamer, a well respected journalist with Britain's Sunday Mirror newspaper was killed on 10th January 2010, aged 39, after an explosion hit the armoured vehicle in which he was travelling in Afghanistan. 

He was a courageous and popular reporter, conveying the dirt and danger of war from the front line, but without exaggerated reverence for either the military or himself.

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Journalist, Michelle Lang

Michelle Lang

Canadian journalist, Michelle Lang, 34, was killed by an improvised explosive devise (IED) in Afghanistan on 30th December 2009, while covering the war for the Canwest News Service. 

Four Canadian soldiers also died in the blast.

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Journalist Sultan Munadi killed

Afghan journalist, Sultan Munadi has been killed during an operation by British Commandos to rescue hum and British journalist, Stephen Farrell. Both men had been kidnapped and were being held hostage when the rescue mission happened.

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Reporter, Sultan Munadi

Sultan Munadi

Early morning on 9th September 2009, journalist Sultan Munadi died in a predawn raid by British commandos trying to rescue him and Stephen Farrell, a correspondent for The Times, from Taliban captivity. 

The two men had been kidnapped in northern Afghanistan the previous Saturday while reporting on a NATO bombing that killed scores of people, possibly including many civilians.

Mr. Munadi was killed as he tried to lead Mr. Farrell to safety. 

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Afghan journalist killed in Kandahar

Ahmad

Ahmad, 23, was shot while driving on a main street in Kandahar, not far from the governor’s palace, according to The Canadian Press and Agence France-Presse. Another car, which the Canadian network CTV identified as a white Toyota, pulled alongside the passenger side and a gunman opened fire. 

Ahmad died at the scene, CTV said, citing Qasim Khan, the physician who pronounced him dead. The journalist was known by his nickname, Jojo, and also used the surname Yazemi or Yazamy.

Ahmad was a freelance field producer for CTV and worked for a number of other news organizations. He also pursued business projects unrelated to journalism.

BBC Journalist, Abdul Rohani

Abdul Samad Rohani

An Afghan journalist working for the BBC in the country's southern Helmand province has been found shot dead.

Abdul Samad Rohani had been abducted and his body was found on 7th June 2008 in Lashkar Gah. 

Rohani worked with the BBC Kabul bureau and was the Pashto service reporter for the BBC World Service in Helmand.

Norwegian journalist, Carsten Thomassen

Carsten Thomassen

Carsten Thomassen, a respected Norwegian journalist and war correspondent for the Norwegian daily Dagbladet, was killed in a terrorist attack at the Kabul Serena Hotel, January 15th 2008.

On January 14th, he was covering Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonar Gahr Store's visit to Kabul. Store and his entourage were staying at the Serena Hotel. While Thomassen was waiting to meet Støre in the lobby, at least two Taliban terrorists forced their way into the Serena Hotel by killing the guards posted outside the main entrance using hand grenades. At least one of the terrorists was dressed in an Afghan police uniform, which may have delayed the reaction of the PST bodyguards inside the hotel.

Thomassen was wounded in the arm, leg and stomach. Once the firing died down, he received first aid from VG photographer Harald Henden, Aftenposten reporter Tor Arne Andreassen, and others.

In the confusion following the attack, he was not evacuated until almost two hours later. He went into shock in the ambulance, and died shortly after while undergoing surgery at a nearby field hospital operated by Czech ISAF forces. 

Due to the nature of his injuries, it is doubtful that he would have survived even if he had been evacuated earlier.

At least six other people were killed in the attack, in addition to the terrorists themselves.

Reporter, Ajmal Naqshbandi

Ajmal Naqshbandi

The Taleban killed Afghan reporter, Ajmal Naqshbandi, who was abducted in May with an Italian journalist, on 4th June 2007. 

The group said it had killed Ajmal Naqshbandi because the government had refused to meet its demands to release senior figures from prison. 

Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo was released after five Taleban members were freed in exchange. The driver, Sayed Agha, was beheaded last month.

Journalist, Karen Fischer

Karen Fischer

Karen Fischer, a German freelance journalist, was shot dead with her partner, Christian Struwe, while they slept in a tent beside a road in Baghlan province.

Ms. Fischer, aged 30, and a former student in the School of Journalism, was working as a freelance journalist for Deutsche Welle, the German state-run broadcasting company. She and Struwe were killed by gunmen weilding AK-47s, according to news reports over the weekend.

Authorities are being urged to waste no time in establishing who killed the journalists.

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TV cameraman, Abdul Qodus

Abdul Qodus, a cameraman for the private Aryana TV station, was killed in a double suicide bombing in the city of Kandahar. He had arrived at the scene of a suicide car bomb when a second attacker with explosives strapped to his body blew himself up, according to the Kabul-based Committee to Protect Afghan Journalists (CPAJ) and news reports. Qodus died of head injuries at a local hospital.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the two explosions, which also killed two Canadian soldiers and several civilians, according to international news reports.

Sweden mourns killed journalist

Colleagues have been paying tribute to a Swedish cameraman shot dead by gunmen during an armed robbery in northern Afghanistan.

Ulf Stromberg, 42, a cameraman for Sweden's TV4, was shot at a house in Taloqan. He was the eighth journalist killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of the U.S.-led military campaign.

"Ulf was a perfectionist but now I think of him, above all, in his role as a father," Jan Scherman, programme director at TV4, told Reuters. Stromberg was married and the father of three small children.

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TV cameraman, Ulf Stromberg

Ulf Stromberg

Ulf Stromberg, 42, a cameraman for Sweden's TV4, was shot at a house in Taloqan. He was the eighth journalist killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of the U.S.-led military campaign.

"Ulf was a perfectionist but now I think of him, above all, in his role as a father," Jan Scherman, programme director at TV4, told Reuters. Stromberg was married and the father of three small children.

Journalist, Julio Fuentes

Julio Fuentes

Julio Fuentes, a journalist with Spain's El Mundo, was murdered along the road between Jalalabah (Nangarhar province) and Kabul, with Maria Grazia Cutuli, special correspondent of the Italian daily Corriere della Serra, Harry Burton, an Australian cameraman for Reuters news agency Video News, and Azizullah Haidari, an Afghan photographer for Reuters.

On 19th November 2001, six gunmen stopped their eight-vehicle press convoy two hours after it left for Kabul at Tangi Abrishum bridge, 90 km east of Kabul. They ordered the journalists to follow them up a nearby hill and hit and stoned them when they refused.

They then shot Cutuli and another journalist and killed the other two soon afterwards. Their bodies were taken Jalalabah hospital next day and identified by colleagues.

Journalist, Maria Grazia Cutulli

Maria Grazia Cutulli

Italian journalist, Maria Grazia Cutulli, was kidnapped by the Taliban and later murdered along with three other journalists.

She had arrived in Afghanistan in September 2001 to cover the ongoing conflict there, working for Italy's Corriere della Sera. On November of that year he was riding in a Jeep from Jalalabad to Kabul, just a few days after the Taliban fell, when his convoy was stopped and passengers ordered to get out.

She was killed with three other journalists, Julio Fuentes of the Spanish paper El Mundo, Azizullah Haidari of Reuters, and Harry Burton of Reuters. Their mutilated bodies were found on 19th November.

Journalist, Azizullah Haidari

Azizullah Haidari

Pakistani journalist and cameraman, Azizullah Haidari, was kidnapped by the Taliban and later murdered along with three other journalists.

The 33 year old experienced journalist moved to Afghanistan to cover the ongoing conflict there, working for Reuters at the time. On November of that year he was riding in a Jeep from Jalalabad to Kabul, just a few days after the Taliban fell, when his convoy was stopped and passengers ordered to get out.

He was killed with three other journalists, Julio Fuentes of the Spanish paper El Mundo, Azizullah Haidari of Reuters, and Maria Grazia Cutulli of Italy's Corriere della Sera. Their mutilated bodies were found on 19th November.

Journalist, Harry Burton

Harry Burton

Australian journalist and cameraman, Harry Burton, was kidnapped by the Taliban and later murdered on along with three other journalists.

He moved to Afghanistan in 2001 to cover the ongoing conflict there, working for Reuters at the time. On November of that year he was riding in a Jeep from Jalalabad to Kabul, just a few days after the Taliban fell, when his convoy was stopped and passengers ordered to get out.

He was killed with three other journalists, Julio Fuentes of the Spanish paper El Mundo, Azizullah Haidari of Reuters, and Maria Grazia Cutulli of Italy's Corriere della Sera. Their mutilated bodies were found on 19th November.

Journalist, Johanne Sutton

Johanne Sutton

Johanne Sutton, a reporter for Radio France Internationale was killed on the evening of 11th November 2001, when Taliban forces fired on a Northern Alliance military convoy.

She was among a group of journalists who were riding with Northern Alliance soldiers in an armored personnel carrier (APC). The soldiers were advancing toward Taliban positions near the city of Taloqan, the capital of Takhar Province and the alliance's former headquarters.

Taliban forces opened fire on the convoy and hit the APC carrying the journalists with a rocket-propelled grenade. The jolt from the grenade's impact caused some people to fall off the tank while others may have jumped off. It was unclear whether the journalists who died were killed in the cross fire, or whether Taliban soldiers later executed at least two of them.

Journalist, Volke Handloik

Volker Handloik, a German freelance reporter for Die Stern, was killed 11th November 2001, in a Taliban ambush of a Northern Alliance military column near Shatarai (northern Afghanistan), with Radio France International (RFI) senior reporter Johanne Sutton and Pierre Billaud, a correspondent for Radio TV Luxembourg.

Over 100 fighters were killed that night in the same valley.

Four other journalists, including Véronique Rebeyrotte, of the radio station France Culture, and Levon Sevunts, of Canada’s Montreal Gazette, were in the same vehicle but escaped.