Larne Gazette - News - Larne photographer injured in Afghanistan

News

Larne photographer injured in Afghanistan

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

A PHOTOGRAPHER from Larne has been seriously injured in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, an incident which also claimed the life of a British journalist and several others.
The blast, caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), one of the Afghan conflict's most infamous, and deadly, weapons, left Philip Coburn (43) in what was described at the weekend as a serious but stable condition.
It was reported that Mr Coburn's brother Nigel, who lives in Larne, said he understood one of the injured man's legs had been amputated below the knee and the other broken.
His fellow Sunday Mirror colleague, defence correspondent Rupert Hamer (39), was killed as was one US Marine and a member of the Afghan National Army travelling in the same convoy.
Several others were wounded in the roadside bomb explosion, four other US Marines being seriously injured.
The photographer and the journalist were embedded with the US Marine Corps and were travelling in a vehicle in northern Helmand province, north-west of the town of Nawa, when it struck the IED.
Rupert Hamer died immediately, it was reported on Sunday, while Philip Coburn was evacuated to Camp Bastion and was due to be brought back to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham on Monday.
He has spoken to members of his family by videophone.
The photographer, who is originally from Larne, was initially reported to have a serious leg injury but, as previously stated, was said to be in a stable condition.
Both men were experienced in war coverage and had been embedded with marines who formed part of the recent US troop surge in Afghanistan for the past couple of weeks. The Sunday Mirror team were on a month-long assignment, having arrived there on New Year's Eve.
Colleagues have been amongst those praising the skill, dedication, courage and professionalism of Mr Coburn, who lives in London, and Rupert Hamer.
The Larne man has worked for the Sunday Mirror for eight years. He has seen conflict in Iraq and Rwanda as well as Afghanistan.
Continued on page 5
IED attacks on the increase
IED attacks, and subsequent fatalities, have been said to be on the increase in the district through which the convoy was passing.
Indeed, the area is one which has seen much use violence and use of IEDs over the past year.
Rupert Hamer is, however, the first British journalist to be killed in Afghanistan.
Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has extended his deepest sympathies to the families of the two men, saying his thoughts are with them.
Local councillor and NILGA (Northern Ireland Local Government Association) representative John Mathews, who visited Afghanistan last summer on a fact-finding mission and saw at first hand-hand the role played by Reservists as part of the UK presence in the country, has given his thoughts on the news.
His 2009 visit was arranged as part of the Ministry of Defence's SaBRE campaign, a component of its Employers Abroad programme aiming to 'build support from employers for Reserve Forces.'
The Alliance Councillor and former Larne Mayor visited Camp Bastion (to which Philip Coburn was medevaced), Kabul and Kandahar during his three-day tour.
He paid tribute to the work of Reservists on that occasion and, speaking to the Larne Gazette on Monday, extended his support and sympathy to Philip Coburn and his family:
“I'm desperately sorry and sympathetic for anyone who's getting hurt out there.
“Having been there, I know it can seem so normal when you're out yet booby traps are lurking in the strangest of places.
“I just hope he does well and gets better.
“I hope he recovers fully."
Describing the dangers
Cllr Mathews, who flew out to Afghanistan on a Lockheed Tristar designed to carry wounded as well as passengers, continued by describing the dangers encountered by military personnel, many from NI, civilians and all those on the ground on a daily basis.
These were perils he had, indeed, discovered at first-hand:
“It's a very dangerous place.
“We went out on patrol with the regiment doing force protection duties near Camp Bastion. We went out of Camp Bastion and did a patrol around the region.
“They were taking lots of precautions with them. But, all the same, we knew we were being watched all the time.
“The routes used are known.
“God knows how many of these bombs have gone off and how many have been planted, but haven't gone off.
“And God knows how long it's going to take to destroy all of them when the conflict is over.
“I fear children will be getting injured and killed by booby trap landmines for a long, long time to come.
“We were in Kabul, with three vehicles, and the soldiers with us opened up on a suicide bomber coming at us.
“It was a Toyota Corolla in the middle of Kabul."
He continued, "I am actually going to London (this week) to meet up with other people who were on that trip and compare notes.
“There are a number of Reservists out there, a big number from Northern Ireland.
“There are people from all walks of life.
“They are doing very important work."
"Doing something worthwhile"
The councillor added, "I met a man from West Belfast who had been in an armoured vehicle which had been blown up.
“Three of his companions, with him in the vehicle, were killed and 19 people were killed in total.
“But he felt, for the first time in his life, that he was doing something worthwhile and people appreciated what he was doing.
“At the same time, there is also some heavy-handed military work going on which antagonises people."
John Mathews concluded, "As I say, it is a very difficult, very dangerous place.
“It behoves all of us, whatever our viewpoints on the reasons for the conflict, to support everyone who is out there doing their best to improve this country, and the lives of ordinary people, a country that's almost medieval in so many ways."
Afghanistan, always a strategically important and much fought over land, has been wracked by civil war and subject to foreign intervention since the late 1970s including the Soviet invasion of 1979.
The subsequent rise of the Taliban was followed by the arrival of American, British and other troops from a range of nations in the aftermath of 9/11, initiating a phase of hostilities which has persisted to the present day.
NATO troops became involved as the UN Security Council authorised the setting up of ISAF, the International Security Assistance Force.
As the effects of this bitter struggle are felt in this Borough, too, everyone in Larne will doubtless want to send Philip Coburn and his family all their best wishes.