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11/01/2010
Larne Photographer Hurt In Deadly Blast
A newspaper photographer who comes originally from Larne has been seriously injured in a roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan.
He suffered the injuries at the same time as his colleague, Sunday Mirror Defence Correspondent, Rupert Hamer, 39, was killed.
The blast caught their vehicle near Nawa in Helmand, killing the senior journalist and also leaving Philip Coburn, 43, from the Co Antrim port but now living in London, in a serious but stable condition.
The Ministry of Defence has said that a US marine was also killed in the explosion on Saturday, and five marines were seriously injured.
Philip Coburn, 43, works for the Sunday Mirror and was embedded with the US Marine Corps when the vehicle he was in was hit by a bomb near Nawa in Helmand.
The journalists had flown to the region on New Year's Eve for a month-long assignment.
Sunday Mirror Editor Tina Weaver told the BBC that Mr Coburn was a veteran of conflicts in Iraq, Rwanda and Afghanistan and had been with the Sunday Mirror for eight years.
Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said Mr Hamer and Mr Coburn had accompanied him on his most recent trip to Afghanistan.
"I got to know them well and I was impressed by their hard work and professionalism," he said.
"My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the families, friends and colleagues of both men at this extremely distressing time," he said yesterday.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown also said he was "deeply saddened by this tragic news".
(BMcC/GK)
He suffered the injuries at the same time as his colleague, Sunday Mirror Defence Correspondent, Rupert Hamer, 39, was killed.
The blast caught their vehicle near Nawa in Helmand, killing the senior journalist and also leaving Philip Coburn, 43, from the Co Antrim port but now living in London, in a serious but stable condition.
The Ministry of Defence has said that a US marine was also killed in the explosion on Saturday, and five marines were seriously injured.
Philip Coburn, 43, works for the Sunday Mirror and was embedded with the US Marine Corps when the vehicle he was in was hit by a bomb near Nawa in Helmand.
The journalists had flown to the region on New Year's Eve for a month-long assignment.
Sunday Mirror Editor Tina Weaver told the BBC that Mr Coburn was a veteran of conflicts in Iraq, Rwanda and Afghanistan and had been with the Sunday Mirror for eight years.
Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said Mr Hamer and Mr Coburn had accompanied him on his most recent trip to Afghanistan.
"I got to know them well and I was impressed by their hard work and professionalism," he said.
"My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the families, friends and colleagues of both men at this extremely distressing time," he said yesterday.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown also said he was "deeply saddened by this tragic news".
(BMcC/GK)
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