Ariana News provincial reporter, Nematullah Zaheer was killed and another was wounded in an explosion in southern Helmand province of Afghansitan on Friday.

The explosion took place in Lashkar Gah city of Helmand around 10:00 am when Zaheer was in line of duty.

The identify of Zaheer’s wounded colleague was not immediately known.

 In a statement the Presidential palace condemned the killing of Zaheer said,” such terrorist attacks cannot stop media freedoms in Afghanistan or weaken the country’s media”.

According to the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, 2016 has been the bloodiest year for journalists in the history of Afghanistan, with 10 reporters killed in the first six months of the year.

Biography

The Ariana News provincial reporter, Nematullah Zaheer was born in July 28, 1978 in Sayed Abad district of Maidan Wardak province of Afghanistan.

Zaheer was graduated from Sayed Abad High School in the year 1998. Then he joined the journalism faculty of Kabul University and was graduated in 2003. He was an experienced and professional journalist who was reporting from the volatile southern Helmand province.

He was popular as a hardworking and talented journalist among his co-workers who had received dozens of certificates of appreciations from the governmental institutions and agencies defending and promoting freedom of speech in Afghanistan.

Zaheer worked as a reporter for at least 10 years and he joined Ariana News Television Network eight years ago in 2008.

He was always reporting from the battlefields of Helmand. Finally, he was killed in the line of duty by a roadside bomb in the southern Helmand province on Friday. His vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Gudar Sorkh area of Lashkar Gah city while he was preparing a report from the Afghan forces operation.

The Afghan reporter who died at the age of 38 was married and had three sons and one daughter.

The government of Afghanistan and agencies supporting open media have called his dead a great loss to the family of media.