Swedish Journalist Ulf Strömberg Killed

Journalist Ulf Strömberg, 42, a cameraman for Sweden’s TV4, died after he was shot during a robbery.

Two young men armed with automatic weapons were in the process of stealing computers and other equipment from a house where a group of Swedish reporters were staying when they approached Strömberg’s room, news agencies report.

Rolf Porseryd, a journalist who shared the room, said the robbers knocked on the door and shot Strömberg when he answered.

“As soon as he opened the door, there was a bang,” Porseryd told the Associated Press. “Ulf fell over me [saying] ‘I’m hit, I’m shot.'”

Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson called Strömberg “a serious professional.”

“It’s a tragedy and goes to show that the profession of a journalist is also a very dangerous one,” Persson said.

TV4 Program Director Jan Scherman told the Associated Press the network was recalling its Afghan-based journalists “as soon as possible.”

Strömberg’s death follows the killings of seven other journalists in just over two weeks.

Four European-based journalists were shot and killed by six unidentified men with automatic weapons last Monday while traveling in a caravan from Jalalabad toward the Afghan capital of Kabul. Their bodies were recovered and identified the following day.

A week before, three journalists died in a Taliban ambush while riding toward Taloqan on the roof of a Northern Alliance vehicle.