Nearly two months after a BBC reporter was killed in Afghanistan amid claims that he was murdered by the Taliban, NATO on Friday admitted that he was actually shot dead by an American soldier who “mistook'' him for a suicide bomber.
Ahmed Omed Khpulwak (25), who worked for the BBC's Pashto service died when a group of militants attacked local radio and television stations in the town of Tarin Kowt, southern Afghanistan, on July 28 killing 19 people. He was in the offices of the Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) at the time and took refuge in a bathroom.
Minutes before being killed, Khpulwak reportedly sent two text messages to his brother Jawid saying: “I am hiding. Death has come. Pray for me if I die.”
Despite Taliban denials, officials insisted at the time that he was killed by the attackers.
But after an investigation, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on Friday admitted that he was killed by its own forces who thought he was an insurgent. It said an American soldier who noticed a “young male with a beard with something clinched in one of his fists and reaching for something on his person'' mistook him for a suicide bomber and shot him.
In a summary of its report, ISAF said: “Based on the events of the preceding minutes the soldier assessed the actions as those of a suicide bomber who was taking steps to detonate an IED [improvised explosive device] that posed a lethal threat to numerous soldiers in the immediate area. He shot the individual with his M-4, killing him.”
His brother Jawaid, however, questioned NATO's claim that it was a case of mistaken identity.
He pointed out that Khpulwak spoke good English and must have shown his press card.
The BBC, while acknowledging the NATO clarification, said it would study the details of the findings on receiving the full report.
Khpulwak, who was married with a young daughter, joined the BBC in 2008 and was described as a brave journalist. BBC said his death highlighted “the great dangers facing journalists who put their lives on the line to provide vital news from around the world''.
