British journalist killed in Afghanistan
Updated on 10 January 2010
Sunday Mirror defence correspondent Rupert Hamer is killed and photographer Philip Coburn seriously injured in an explosion in Afghanistan.
The journalists were on patrol with US marines north-west of the town of Nawa when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb. An American marine was also killed in the explosion.
Rupert Hamer, a 39-year-old father-of-three, had been the Sunday Mirror's defence correspondent since 2004. He and Coburn had flown out to Afghanistan on New Year's Eve.
He is the first British journalist to be killed in Afghanistan.
Mr Hamer had covered the armed forces across the Middle East and central Asia, the Oman, Bahrain, Iraq and Afghanistan for the Sunday Mirror.
He had worked for the newspaper for 12 years and colleagues paid tribute to a "fine, fearless and skilled writer".
Coburn has been at the Sunday Mirror for eight years, covering stories including Hurricane Katrina.
Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver said: "Rupert believed that the only place to report a war was from the frontline, and as our defence correspondent he wanted to be embedded with the US marines at the start of their vital surge into southern Afghanistan."
"He was a fine, fearless, and skilled writer who joined the paper 12 years ago," she added. "Affectionately known as Corporal Hamer in the office, he was a gregarious figure, a wonderful friend who was hugely popular with his colleagues.
"Above all he was devoted to his wife Helen and their three young children.
"Our thoughts and condolences are with Helen, his father Nick, who he was so close to, and the children he was so proud of."
