NPR Photographer and Interpreter Killed in Afghanistan

David Gilkey, NPR photojournalist, was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday, June 5 along with NPR’s Afghan interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna.

David and Zabihullah were on a mission in an armored Humvee driven by a soldier in the Afghan army.

David was considered one of the best photojournalists in the world. His works received a George Polk Award in 2010, a national News and Documentary Emmy in 2007, and dozens of distinctions from the White House News Photographers Association.

David was not afraid of covering heavy issues: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa, the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, famine in Somalia, and the Ebola epidemic in Liberia.

David was 50, and Zabihullah, who also worked as a photographer, was 38.

Cover photo: Monika Evstatieva/NPR