NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - A New York Times photographer has been severely injured in southern Afghanistan, The New York Times reported on its website on Saturday.
The Times said Joao Silva stepped on a mine while on patrol with U.S. soldiers near the town of Arghandab. He was taken to Kandahar Air Field, the U.S. and NATO base, for treatment for severe leg injuries, the newspaper said.
No American troops were injured in the explosion, according to the report. Minesweepers and bomb-sniffing dogs had moved over the area several steps ahead of Silva when the bomb went off, the Times reported.
Silva, 44, was embedded with a Times reporter with a unit of the 101st Airborne Division. U.S. soldiers have been clearing Taliban insurgents from Arghandab and the surrounding area in recent weeks as part of a larger effort to secure the approaches to Kandahar, the Times said.
No further details were available on the incident or Silva's injuries.
Silva has photographed wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, southern Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East and won many awards for his work. He is also the author with Greg Marinovich of "The Bang-Bang Club," which chronicles four photographers in South Africa in the 1990s.
"Joao is the state-of-the-art war photographer, fearless but careful, with an amazing eye," said Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times. "We're all waiting anxiously and praying for his quick recovery."
Homemade bombs and mines account for more casualties among American and NATO troops than any other means, the Times report said. (Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Chris Wilson))
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