An award-winning war photographer has been severely wounded in southern Afghanistan after stepping on a mine while on patrol with US soldiers.
João Silva, 44, one of two surviving members of the Bang-Bang Club, a group of photographers who were celebrated for covering the violence in South Africa in the 1990s, was injured near the town of Arghandab.
The New York Times photographer and a journalist from the newspaper – the veteran reporter Carlotta Gall – were embedded with a unit of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division that had been trying to secure the routes into Kandahar, the hub of the Taliban-led insurgency and one of the most dangerous places in the country.
"A group of minesweepers and bomb-sniffing dogs had already moved over the area ahead of Mr Silva when the bomb went off," the New York Times reported. No American soldiers were wounded in the explosion, it said, adding that Silva had been taken to Kandahar airfield, where he was receiving treatment.
Silva, pictured below, has photographed conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, southern Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East. He is one of the most celebrated war photographers of his generation and has won many international awards for his work. He co-wrote a book about the Bang-Bang Club's experiences with fellow member Greg Marinovich. Other members were Kevin Carter, who committed suicide in 1994, and Ken Oosterbroek, who was killed the same year during shooting between South Africa's National Peacekeeping Force and African National Congress supporters. A movie about the groupBang Bang Club, so-called because of the violence they encountered in their exploits – starring Ryan Phillippe, premiered at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.
Yesterday the New York Times was quick to pay tribute to Silva and his work. "Joao is the state-of-the-art war photographer, fearless but careful, with an amazing eye," said Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, said of Silva: "We're praying for his quick recovery."Mines , or improvised explosive devices (IEDs), are the main weapon used by the Taliban. They are cheap and easy to make but difficult to detect, and can be detonated by pressure or by remote control.
It is believed that they have killed many of the almost 600 foreign troops to have died in the war so far this year, and have caused devastating injuries to survivors.
Last week, Gall wrote that US forces had been "routing" the Taliban in much of the province.
US-led forces allow journalists to "embed" with frontline units. The reporters often accompany military patrols, facing the same risks though they are unarmed and largely lack military training.