Journalist Killed

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Journalist Killed
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Two journalists working for the Associated Press
have been shot in Afghanistan, one of them
fatally. The Associated Press named the
journalist killed as Anja Niedringhaus, 48, an
internationally acclaimed German photographer.
The second journalist targeted by the gunman was
Kathy Gannon, a Canadian reporter based in
Islamabad. She is said to be in a stable
condition and is receiving medical care. The two
women were traveling in their own car in a convoy
of election workers delivering election ballots,
protected by the Afghan National Army and Afghan
police. A unit commander walked up to their car
as it waited to move, yelled "Allahu Akbar" --
God is great -- and opened fire on them in the
back seat. He then surrendered to the other
police present. The attack came amid heightened
security on the eve of Afghanistan's presidential
election. The third presidential vote since the
fall of the Taliban in 2001, this year's election
marks the first democratic handover of power in
the fragile country, with current President Hamid
Karzai -- who is term-limited by the constitution
-- handing over the reins. The Taliban vowed to
disrupt the elections and punish anyone involved
in them. The run-up to the elections has been
marred by a series of attacks.
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