Journalists from the UK killed reporting on war and terror

Sunday Mirror journalist Rupert Hamer may be the first British journalist to have been killed in the current conflict in Afghanistan but he joins a growing list of journalists from the UK who have given their lives reporting on war and terror in recent years.

Since 2001 on average a British journalist has been killed in the line of work every year.

Here Press Gazette remembers those like Hamer, killed by an improvised explosive device on Saturday, who have given their lives to report the news:

Martin O’Hagan, 51

Lurgan, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland

28 September; 2001

O’Hagan was an investigative journalist who worked for the Dublin and Belfast-based Sunday World. He was shot while walking home from his local pub after refusing to bow to pressure to stop publishing stories about the activities of Loyalist gangsters. The Loyalist Volunteer Force claimed responsibility for his murder but nobody has been prosecuted.

Roddy Scott, 31

Galashki Region, Ingushetia, Russia

26 September, 2002

Scott was a freelance cameraman working for Frontline television news agency. He was killed in the Russian republic of Ingushetia during a clash between Russian forces and the Chechen group with which he was travelling.

Terry Lloyd, 50

Al-Zubayr, Iraq

22 March, 2003

Lloyd was a correspondent for ITV news and had been working as an independent reporter not embedded with military forces. He was caught in crossfire between Iraqi and US troops. An inquest recorded the verdict of “unlawful killing by US forces”.

James Miller, 35

Rafah, Gaza Strip, Israel

2 May, 2003

Miller was a freelance cameraman who was filming a documentary for HBO on the Israel-Palestine conflict. He was killed by Israeli troops who continued to fire after the reporter he was with shouted “we are British journalists”. An inquest concluded he had been murdered, but no Israeli soldiers were prosecuted.

Richard Wild, 24

Baghdad, Iraq

5 July, 2003

Wild was an inexperienced freelance journalist who had travelled to Iraq to cover his first war. He was shot dead whilst hailing a cab outside Baghdad Museum. The gunman was never found and it is believed that Wild had not been carrying a camera or anything to identify him as a journalist.

Simon Cumbers, 36

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

6 June, 2004

Cumbers was a freelance Irish cameraman working for the BBC. He was shot dead in the Saudi capital Riyadh by suspected al-Qaeda sympathisers. Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent, was also seriously injured in the attack.

Kate Peyton, 39

Mogadishu, Somalia

9 February, 2005

Peyton had just arrived in Somalia to film a series of reports on the war-torn country. She was shot outside a hotel having been targeted by what is now believed to have been gunmen with links to al-Qaeda. A coroner later ruled that she had felt under pressure from the BBC and had feared that she would lose her job if she had refused to take on the dangerous assignment.

Paul Douglas, 48, and James Brolan, 42

Baghdad, Iraq

29 May, 2006

Douglas, a cameraman, and his soundman Brolan, were working for CBS and embedded with the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division. They were killed by a car bomb, which exploded whilst they were on patrol with American and Iraqi soldiers.

Martin Adler, 47

Mogadishu, Somalia

23 June, 2006

Anglo-Swedish journalist Adler was a former contributor to Channel 4 news, who was freelancing in Somalia for several Swedish newspapers. He was shot by an unidentified gunman while filming a demonstration in the capital, Mogadishu.

Rupert Hamer, 39

North-west of Nawa, Helmand Province, Afghanistan

9 January, 2010

Hamer was defence correspondent for the Sunday Mirror, and had been embedded with US marines. He was killed by a roadside bomb which struck a patrol vehicle, also killing a US marine and an Afghan soldier. Sunday Mirror photographer Philip Coburn was seriously injured.