Afghanistan
BBC journalist killed in AfghanistanPosted Sep 14 2011
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan released a summary on Sept. 8 of its investigation into the July 28 death of a BBC journalist in Afghanistan.
Ahmed Omaid Khpalwak, 25, worked for BBC’s Afghanistan service and the Pajhwok Afghan News agency. He was mistakenly killed by an American soldier in Tarin Kot, capital of Uruzgan province in central Afghanistan, according to a BBC article.
According to the summary from ISAF, the American soldier assumed Khpalwak was a suicide bomber and was trying to detonate a vest with IEDs (improvised explosive device) and posed a lethal threat to the governor’s office and police headquarters in Tarin Kot.
The summary says the U.S. soldier came across “a young male with a beard with something clinched in one of his fists and reaching for something on his person.” The U.S. soldier pulled the trigger of his M-4 and shot Khpalwak, killing him.
David Loyn, a BBC colleague of Khpalwak, said in the BBC article that Khpulwak had hidden in a bathroom and texted his brother: “I am hiding. Death has come.” And then he wrote: “Pray for me if I die.”
According to Khpalwak’s family, he had been hit by 11 bullets.
However, ISAF was confident that the soldier had complied with the laws of armed conflict and rules of engagement and acted reasonably under the circumstances, according to the BBC article.
Khpalwak is the third BBC reporter to be killed in Afghanistan.
According to CPJ research, since 1992, there have been 23 journalists killed in Afghanistan because of their work. Twenty of them died after the Sept. 11 attacks. Afghanistan ranks No. 10 in the world in the number of journalists killed for their work, according to CPJ.
Director of BBC Global News Peter Horrocks said in the BBC article: “His death further highlights the great dangers facing journalists who put their lives on the line to provide vital news from around the world. It is essential that journalists are given the best possible protection whilst reporting in dangerous situations so that the world can hear their stories.”
Khpalwak was married and had a 3-month-old daughter.