Sunday November 11 5:56 PM ET

Journalist Killed in Afghanistan

PARIS (AP) - A French journalist was killed Sunday in northeastern Afghanistan, Radio France Internationale said late Sunday.

Johanne Sutton, an RFI journalist, was believed to be the only foreign journalist killed in Afghanistan since the war began last month.

She was riding with French and other foreign journalists when their convoy was ambushed after leaving Northern Alliance military headquarters in Khoja Bahauddin, in the northern province of Takhar, near the Tajikistan border.

There were unconfirmed reports of injuries among those traveling in the convoy.

Opposition forces said Sunday they had captured Taloqan, the capital of Takhar and their former headquarters. The Taliban denied the city had been overrun.

-- Anonymous, November 11, 2001

Answers

Sydney Morning Herald

Three journalists killed in Taliban ambush

Three journalists were killed in a Taliban ambush yesterday - the first foreign journalists to die in the conflict.

Sydney Morning Herald correspondent Paul McGeough was one of six journalists travelling on the roof of a Northen Alliance armoured personnel carrier when it came under mortar and machine gun fire.

The APC was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade which did not explode on impact but exploded when it hit the ground. The APC did an abrupt turn and three of the journalists tumbled off the roof.

"Three of us clung on for grim death and we survived,'' said McGeough.

The APC sped from the battle leaving behind those who fell. They included three journalists - a German man and two French women - and several alliance soldiers.

Their bodies were recovered later by alliance troops. One of the two French journalists was named as 34-year-old radio reporter Johanne Sutton from Radio France Internationale. The other worked for the Luxembourg-based radio station RTL, and the male worked for the German magazine, Stern.

``At about 6.30pm Commander Hassan of the Northern Alliance suggested that we go to look at a Taliban trench that had surrendered," said McGeough. ``When we got there, they had not surrendered."

RFI confirmed from its headquarters in Paris that Sutton, 35 and single, had been killed in the ambush.

In a statement from his office, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said: "I have learned with great sadness of the death of Johanne Sutton, caught in an ambush in Afghanistan while she was carrying out her work as a journalist.

"In my own name and that of the government, I want to present my most sincere condolences to the family of Johanne Sutton and to say I share the pain of all her loved ones and the grieving of the war correspondents' community," Jospin said.

Heavy fighting was reported near Sharatai late today as Northern Alliance forces attacked Taliban positions after seizing two positions there the day before. Opposition heavy artillery pounded Taliban hillside positions in the northeast Takhar province for a few hours from 5pm (2330 AEDT) The Taliban hit back with a mortar attack.

About 50 tanks and armoured cars and about 2,000 soldiers left to attack Taliban positions during the same period, opposition commander Mohammad Abdullah told AFP.

Heavy fighting also took place near the village of Isvandasht, about 10 kilometres south-west of the Sharatai front-line and near Tajikistan.

The Northern Alliance today said it had seized Taloqan, capital of Takhar province, a claim denied by the Taliban.

AFP

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001

Well, these things happen in war.

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2001