Gunmen broke into a house where Swedish journalists were staying and shot dead a cameraman today in the northern Afghan city of Taloqan, held by the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, colleagues said.
They said Oluf Stromberg (42) of Sweden's TV4 channel had been killed during an armed robbery.
Mr Rolf Porseryd, a correspondent for TV4, told Reutersthree turbaned gunmen with Kalashnikov rifles and knives had broken into the house where he, Mr Stromberg, two other Swedish journalists and an Afghan translator were staying at about 2 a.m.
He said the gunmen had first gone into a room where Mr Martin Adler and Mr Bo Liden, both of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, were sleeping. They demanded and were given money.
"One guy told Martin: 'Now we are going to take you outside and kill you'," Mr Porseryd said. The translator pleaded with the gunmen for the journalists' lives, saying it was the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the foreigners had families at home.
The gunmen moved to another room where Mr Stromberg and Mr Porseryd were sleeping. Mr Stromberg went to the door and slammed it shut when he saw the gunmen.
"There were two shots and I heard Oluf crying out 'I've been shot, I'm dying' as he fell back," Mr Porseryd said.
Mr Stromberg had been hit in the chest by one bullet fired through the door. The other bullet, fired through the window by a fourth gunmen, hit a wall.
Mr Stromberg was taken to a local hospital, but he later died. He was the eighth journalist to be killed in Afghanistan since the United States began its campaign against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.
The gunmen made off with a satellite telephone and several thousand dollars.