We're sad to report that NPR Photojournalist David Gilkey has been killed in Afghanistan.
Gilkey, 50, along with his interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna, 38, were killed in a Taliban raid while on assignment for NPR in the Helmand Province, NPR said on Sunday.
In an email shared on Facebook, NPR’s chief executive, Jarl Mohn, and vice-president, Michael Oreskes, praised Gilkey’s work. “As a man and as a photojournalist, David brought out the humanity of all those around him.”
“He let us see the world and each other through his eyes,” they added.
Gilkey and Tamanna were believed to be travelling with the US military when their vehicle came under fire. Two other NPR staff, including Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, were travelling in a nearby vehicle. They escaped unharmed.
Gilkey was a former White House photographer who was part of the NPR team that won a Polk award for investigative work into the US military’s failure to treat brain injuries in veterans.
He was one of the first photographers to go to Afghanistan when the US invaded in 2001, and later embedded with US soldiers in Iraq. He also covered the 2009 Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the 2015 Ebola epidemic in Liberia, and conflicts in Rwanda, the Balkans and Somalia.
Gilkey and Tamanna's remains were taken to Camp Shorab, where it was reported the fallen journalist and his interpreter were given a guard of honor.
In a statement released shortly after the news broke, Secretary of State John Kerry also paid his respects:
David Gilkey certainly never shied away from conveying those stories, whether there in Afghanistan or Somalia, Haiti, Gaza, Iraq and dozens of other places around the world. He was more than a gifted photographer. He was a gifted storyteller, who understood the power of imagery to enhancing the power of understanding. He will be sorely missed.