A veteran American photojournalist and a translator working for NPR were killed while accompanying Afghan troops in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, NPR and military officials said. NPR's David Gilkey and Afghan translator Zabihullah Tamanna were in an Afghan army Humvee travelling between the provincial capital of Helmand province, Lashkar Gah, and Marjah, when their vehicle was struck by an 82mm rocket during a Taliban ambush, Shakil Ahmad Tasal, a spokesman for the Afghan army's 205th Atal Corps told Reuters.
The attack occurred around 2:30 pm local time and also killed the vehicle's driver, an army soldier, Tasal said. The pair were travelling on assignment with fellow NPR employees Tom Bowman and Monika Evstatieva, who were both unharmed, according to a statement from NPR. Gilkey was an award-winning veteran of covering Afghanistan and other conflict zones.