A Reuters photographer was left behind in July during an Afghan military retreat, according to an Afghan general, and was probably killed by the Taliban.
Dane Siddiqui, a 38-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, was killed on July 16 along with two other Afghan commanders after the military withdrew in a fight to take a city near the Afghan border, Reuters . reported.
Major General Haibatullah Alizai, the commander of Afghanistan’s special operations corps, which hosted Siddiqui at the time, said Siddiqui and the two commanders were mistakenly left after the soldiers believed the three were already retreating. . Four other soldiers supported Alizai’s story.
Saddiqui and the two commanders reportedly did not retire and were in a local mosque where the photographer was receiving treatment for a shrapnel wound.
Siddiqui’s body was reportedly found mutilated in Taliban custody. His body was recovered and identified after photos on social media were compared to his body by Reuters and Forensic Equity ballistics expert Philip Boyce.
It is “obvious that he was shot several times after he was killed,” Boyce said. Other reports said Siddiqui’s body was also hit by a vehicle, according to Reuters.
The Taliban deny killing the photojournalist and claim the body was in that state when it was found.
Siddiqui left behind two small children and his wife. His death has devastated the global journalistic community and Reuters employees.
“If we don’t go, who will?” Siddiqui told his boss when he asked to cover Afghanistan in the last month before the country collapsed.
Siddiqui assured his family and friends that he would know when he would leave the country and told them that Reuters did a risk assessment before entering the camp.
Reuters has several major publishers approving risk assignments, but Reuters employees have questioned how that call was made.
Some employees believe his job was the right measure, while others believe Saddiqui should have been retired earlier. Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni said she takes “full responsibility for the decision.”
An internal and external review of the events and decisions prior to Siddiqui’s death is underway.