Photojournalist dies in Pakistan suicide bombing

Sep 7, 2010, 13:26 GMT

Islamabad - A photographer from European Pressphoto Agency (epa) who was seriously injured in a suicide attack at a Shiite rally in Pakistan has died from his wounds, the company said Tuesday.

Ejaz Raeesani, 30, was based in Quetta, Baluchistan provincial capital. He covering the rally when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives, killing 60 people and injuring 168 more, on Friday.

'He succumbed to his wounds on September 6 in the hospital where he was treated,' the agency said in a statement.

Raeesani was buried in his native town of Mastung following a funeral ceremony.

He joined epa in 2008 as a free-lance photographer and the quality of Raeesani's images brought an eye-opening insight into the hardships of the daily life in the region he covered, the circumstances of his own death bringing a tragic testimony to this fact, the epa said.

The epa president and chief executive Joerg Schierenbeck and editor-in-chief Cengiz Seren expressed their grief for the loss of their colleague and numerous other victims who lost their lives 'in this blind act of violence.'

They also expressed sympathy and condolences to Reesani's wife and two children on behalf of all the staff of epa.

Pakistan has become one of the deadliest places for working journalists on the globe. The Committee to Protect Journalists said four other journalists have been killed this year in the country. Eight journalists died in 2009.