Boelter pleads guilty in lawmaker attacks, agrees to two life sentences

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"A veteran Associated Press photographer was killed and an AP reporter was wounded on Friday when an Afghan policeman opened fire while they were sitting in their car in eastern Afghanistan," 

, 48, a photographer who in 2005 was part of an AP team 

 for coverage of the war in Iraq, died instantly, according to an AP Television freelancer who saw the attack.
The reporter, 

, "was wounded twice and is receiving medical attention. Gannon, 60, was described as being in stable condition and talking to medical personnel," the AP says.


From Kabul, NPR's Sean Carberry reports that the car the journalists were in was "surrounded by Afghan army and police security" when the gunman shot them.

, AP President Gary Pruitt remembered Niedringhaus as "spirited, intrepid and fearless, with a raucous laugh that we will always remember."


"Anja is the 32nd AP staffer to give their life in pursuit of the news since AP was founded in 1846," he wrote. "This is a profession of the brave and the passionate, those committed to the mission of bringing to the world information that is fair, accurate and important. Anja Niedringhaus met that definition in every way."

's In Focus blog posted a collection of her photos: "

Afghanistan: Seen Through the Lens of Anja Niedringhaus

 that "the attack took place on the eve of a presidential election that Taliban insurgents have pledged to disrupt through a campaign of bombings and assassinations. ... Last month, a prominent Afghan journalist with the Agence France-Presse news agency was killed alongside eight other people when Taliban gunmen opened fire inside a heavily fortified luxury hotel in the centre of the capital, Kabul."  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Crime, Law and Justice

Mark Memmott

Author

Anja Niedringhaus, a photographer for the AP, died and Kathy Gannon was seriously injured when a man opened fire. They were in a car in eastern Afghanistan. The gunman is reported to have been a police officer.

AP photographer killed, reporter wounded in Afghanistan

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