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Death of Four Journalists in Afghanistan Confirmed
ISLAMABAD, Nov 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The deaths of four journalists in a roadside ambush in Afghanistan was confirmed Tuesday by their news organizations, according to news agency reports.
The bodies of three men and a woman were found Monday on a road east of Kabul. Witnesses said they were shot by gunmen armed with Kalashnikov rifles who attacked the convoy as it was en route to the capital.
A Pashtun translator was also reported killed, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The British news agency Reuters confirmed Tuesday that two of its journalists, Australian cameraman Harry Burton and Afghan-born photographer Azizullah Haidari, had died in the ambush.
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo published an obituary of Julio Fuentes, one of the country's best-known war correspondents, as among those killed.
Italian papers paid tribute to Maria Grazia Cutuli, 39, who wrote for the daily Corriere della
Sera. Prosecutors said they had opened a murder inquiry into her death.
There was no immediate word on who killed the journalists. The road that leads from Pakistan to Kabul via the eastern city of Jalalabad is known to be plagued by bandits and rogue elements of the Taliban militia.
The bodies were recovered Tuesday from a roadside in eastern Afghanistan, a local police chief told AFP.
Nangarhar provincial police chief Hazrat Ali said the bodies would be brought to the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad.
"According to my information, they have been killed by Arabs," Ali said.
"I've sent my commanders to the region to investigate and determine where these killers have escaped."
Arab volunteers are one element of Afghanistan's Taliban militia and also number in the ranks of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda network.
Ali said measures were being taken to strengthen the security situation in Nangarhar, which fell into the hands of Pashtun tribal groups following the withdrawal of Taliban forces.
"We have set up check points at different places to stop the entry of unwanted people," Ali said.
"There are concerns among the population about a number of weapons that are in the hands of the general public but we will disarm them."
Although the Taliban's strict enforcement of their laws caused widespread suffering among their people, even their enemies admit that the group managed to maintain law and order in territories under their control, as opposed to the wanton violence and disorder that characterized the Northern Alliance forces' shifting reigns.
Now, the Taliban's swift and dramatic fall from power has left internal security forces struggling to fill the void.
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