New York, August 26, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) mourns the death of our colleague Alistair McLeod, 41, a freelance reporter on assignment in Afghanistan for The Australian newspaper.
McLeod, a New Zealand citizen, was killed over the weekend in a car accident outside Kabul. Luis Alvarez, a reporter for the Spanish news agency EFE, and an Afghan driver were injured in the accident. The accident occurred when the car carrying the two journalists tried to dodge another vehicle and rolled over, according to international news reports.
McLeod and Alvarez were brought to an International Security Assistance Force medical clinic where McLeod was pronounced dead at 10:50 pm on August 23, according to Agence France-Presse.
McLeod had reported on conflicts in Angola, Kosovo, and East Timor. According to The Australian, at the time of his death, he had just begun reporting on a story about Harry Burton, an Australian cameraman for Reuters who was killed along with three other journalists when their convoy en route to Kabul was ambushed by a group of gunmen on November 19, 2001.
