German journalists die in Afghan attack
By Fiona Nate,WNS Afghanistan Correspondent
KABUL - Two German journalists who had pitched a tent on the side of a road outside a northern Afghan village were killed by gunmen on the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.The two freelance journalists working for Germany's national broadcast outlet were the first foreign reporters killed in Afghanistan since late 2001, when eight journalists died.
The slain journalists -- identified as Karen Fischer, 30, and Christian Struwe, 38 - worked as freelancers for Deutsche Welle, Germany's state-owned broadcast outlet.
The two were traveling in a Toyota four-wheel drive vehicle in the northern province of Baghlan, about 150 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of Kabul, and had stopped outside a small village, where they set up a tent to spend the night, said Mohammad Azim Hashami, the provincial police chief.They were killed by AK-47 gunfire around 1:30 a.m., he said.Hashami said nothing was stolen from the journalists, including their vehicle. Police had no suspects. Deutsche Welle director Erik Bettermann said the two had spent a lot of time in Afghanistan and were familiar with the territory. He called the two "pioneers in re-establishing a functioning media system in Afghanistan" and said Struwe helped set up a state-run radio and television newsroom, a project supported by Deutsche Welle.
The broadcaster said Fischer and Struwe had been conducting private research for a documentary. They had been en route to the province of Bamiyan, the site of two large Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban in early 2001.The German government sharply condemned the "atrocious and senseless" murders.Some 2,700 German soldiers are serving in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in the north of the country.
posted by wnsworld @ 6:24 PM
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