British journalist killed in blast in Afghanistan
LONDON. January 11. KAZINFORM. Britain's Sunday Mirror defense journalist Rupert Hamer has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defense said here on Sunday; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.
The 39-year-old Hamer was the first British journalist to die in the Afghanistan conflict. He was blown up Saturday by a roadside bomb as he accompanied U.S. Marines patrolling near Nawa, southern Afghanistan, the ministry said.
Philip Coburn, 43, a photographer also with Sunday Mirror working alongside Hamer, was injured in the explosion, the ministry said, he was "in a serious but stable condition."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that he was "deeply saddened by this tragic news."
Hamer was the second foreign journalist to be killed in Afghanistan in the space of 10 days. The other was the 34-year-oldMichelle Lang, a female journalist with Canada's Calgary Herald newspaper, who was killed in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan alongside four soldiers when a roadside bomb exploded beneath their armored vehicle on Dec. 30 last year; Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.news.xinhuanet.com for full version.