Gallery: Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Danish Siddiqui's photos
A member of the Afghan Special Forces prays on a highway before a combat mission against the Taliban, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, July 11, 2021.
Danish Siddiqui, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist for Reuters, was killed Friday, July 17, 2021, as he chronicled fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban amid the continuing withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops.
Siddiqui, 38, was embedded with Afghan special forces as the commando unit battled for control of the Spin Boldak crossing, on the border between southern Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Danish Siddiqui
Danish Siddiqui takes pictures of a damaged cargo ship in the Arabian Sea off the Mumbai coast, August 9, 2010.
Siddiqui was part of a team of Reuters photojournalists that won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography in 2018 for their coverage of Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar. More recently, he had captured searing images of India's struggle against COVID-19.
Scroll through our gallery for examples of some of Siddiqui's remarkable images.
Kushti
A wrestler rubs his hands with mud to prevent slipping due to sweat, during a traditional mud wrestling (Kushti) bout, at the Akhaara centre in Kolhapur, south of Mumbai, India, February 14, 2012.
Rohingya refugees
A Rohingya refugee man pulls a child as they walk to shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal, in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh, September 10, 2017.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Farhat Basir Khan, a professor of mass communications at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, remarked on Siddiqui's determination to go after difficult and complex stories, and praised his former student's sense of empathy: "He was our eye. He gave voice and agency to thousands whose suffering might have been lost. If a picture is worth a thousand words, his were worth millions."
Mumbai
Eleven-month-old Sakeena sleeps in a hammock on the promenade next to a lake in Mumbai, India, March 21, 2017.
A native of New Delhi, and a defense correspondent for an Indian TV network, Siddiqui decided to change careers in 2010 with an internship at Reuters. A self-taught photographer, Siddiqui told Forbes India in 2018 that he had been frustrated that television news focused only on big stories, not smaller features from the interior of India.
Wrestling a tiger
A participant flies a tiger-shaped kite during the International Kite Festival in Mumbai, January 8, 2014.
Rescue
A man is pulled to safety on a rope across the Alaknanda river, during a rescue operation in Govindghat in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, June 23, 2013.
Mumbai
Beachgoers stroll as a boy practices somersaulting on a beach in Mumbai, India, July 12, 2018.
Ganges river
A Naga Sadhu, or Hindu holy man, wears a mask before the procession for taking a dip in the Ganges river during Shahi Snan, at the Pitcher Festival held amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease, in Haridwar, India, April 12, 2021.
"While I enjoy covering news stories – from business to politics to sports – what I enjoy most is capturing the human face of a breaking story,'' Siddiqui wrote in a profile on Reuters' website. "I really like covering issues that affect people as the result of different kind of conflicts."
Fireworks
Fireworks explode over participants carrying torches during a procession marking the 70th anniversary of North Korea's founding, in Pyongyang, September 10, 2018.
Siddiqui has covered wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, unrest in India, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
North Korea
A soldier eats ice cream as she visits a zoo in Pyongyang, North Korea, September 12, 2018.
Afghan Special Forces
People watch as the convoy of Afghan Special Forces passes through a market during a combat mission against the Taliban, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, July 12, 2021.
Afghan Special Forces
Members of the Afghan Special Forces keep a watch as others search houses in a village during a combat mission against the Taliban, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, July 12, 2021.
Hindu devotees
Hindu devotees pray while standing in the waters of the Arabian Sea as they worship the Sun god Surya during the Hindu religious festival "Chatt Puja," in Mumbai, October 30, 2014.
"Ninety percent of the photography I have learnt has come from experimentation in the field," Siddiqui once wrote.
Sectarian violence
On February 24, 2020, while covering sectarian unrest in a suburb of New Delhi, Siddiqui and Reuters correspondent Devjyot Ghoshal saw a Muslim man, Mohammad Zubair, being beaten by a frenzied mob chanting pro-Hindu slogans, during protests sparked by a new citizenship law. Their images – widely featured in international media – highlighted the danger of wider conflagration between India's Hindu majority and sizeable Muslim minority. Siddiqui, a Muslim, had a narrow escape when the mob turned their attention on him.
Evening prayers
Relatives of patrons listen to priests as they chant during evening prayers at the Mukti Bhavan (Salvation House), in Varanasi, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, June 17, 2014.
Last doctor standing
A woman leans against a stretcher holding her husband in the corridor of the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the COVID-19 outbreak, in Bhagalpur, in the eastern state of Bihar, India, July 27, 2020.
Grief
A health worker reacts before the burial of a Central Reserve Police Force officer who was died of complications related to COVID-19, at a graveyard in New Delhi, India, April 29, 2020.
Cremations
People wait to cremate victims who died due to the coronavirus, at a crematorium ground in New Delhi, India, April 23, 2021.
Arabian Sea
Hindu devotees worship the Sun god in the waters of the Arabian Sea during Chhath Puja, in Mumbai, India, November 6, 2016.
Danish Siddiqui
Reuters journalist Danish Siddiqui, poses for a photo in Kabul, Afghanistan July 8, 2021.
Siddiqui, 38, is survived by his wife, Rike, and two young children.
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan. Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.