Journalists angry over reporter’s death

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan journalists expressed anger Thursday over the killing of a much-admired reporter during a NATO commando rescue operation that plucked his Western colleague to safety.

Sultan Munadi and Stephen Farrell were snatched by Taliban rebels on Saturday in northern Afghanistan where they were interviewing residents about a NATO missile strike that is alleged to have killed civilians.

A dramatic airborne raid by British commandos on Wednesday freed Farrell, but Munadi was caught in the crossfire and died, his body left behind by foreign forces, Afghan journalists and media reports have said.

A friend of Munadi’s family said the soldiers had traced the house where the two journalists were held by tracking signals from Munadi’s mobile phone. “He had called his parents and talked to them at 10.30 the night before, and said he was safe,” the family friend said.

Munadi’s parents had made the dangerous trip to Kunduz from Kabul to await their son’s release, he said on condition he not be identified.

“They had to collect the body themselves, there was no one to help them, and take it back for burial,” the friend said.

“He was just left there, and the body was in a terrible state shot in the front and in the back, so it is impossible to know if he was killed by the soldiers or by the Taliban.”

Naqibullah Taib, of the Afghan Independent Journalists’ Association, said local journalists often lack the experience necessary to make split-second, life-saving judgments.

“There is a lot of understanding among the foreign journalists like Farrell who have worked in dangerous areas and conflict zones for a long time but that is not the case for the Afghans who work with them,” Taib told AFP. He called on international news organisations to “offer more training to Afghan journalists to ensure they are as well prepared as possible for situations that might come up.” Kabul, Friday, AFP