A journalist for Britain's Sunday Mirror newspaper has been killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol in Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said today.
Defence correspondent Rupert Hamer was accompanying a US marine patrol to the northwest of Nawa in Helmand province when the vehicle he was in struck an improvised explosive device, the ministry said.
A US marine was also killed in the explosion. Sunday Mirror photographer Philip Coburn was wounded and is in a stable but serious condition, it said.
Hamer was the first British journalist to be killed in Afghanistan since US-led forces began their offensive against the Taliban in October 2001.
He is the second western journalist to die there in as many weeks, highlighting the perils facing reporters embedded with Nato troops.
Canadian journalist Michelle Lang was killed on December 30th, also by a bomb which struck her armoured vehicle.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressed his sorrow at Hamer's death and praised the professionalism of journalists embedded with Nato troops.
"I was deeply saddened by this tragic news, and my heartfelt thoughts and sympathies are with the families, friends and colleagues of Rupert and Philip," he said.
"Their courage, skill and dedication to reporting from the front line was incredibly important and ensured that the world could see and read about our heroic troops."
Hamer was an experienced war reporter who had covered conflicts in Iraq, the Middle East and central Asia. He leaves a wife and three children.
Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver played tribute to Hamer, who had worked for the paper for 12 years. "Rupert believed that the only place to report a war was from the front line," she said.
"Affectionately known as Corporal Hamer in the office, he was a gregarious figure, a wonderful friend who was hugely popular with his colleagues."
Reuters