Fighting between the military backed by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and rebel forces in Libya recently took the lives of two photojournalists: Tim Hetherington, co-director of the Afghanistan-war documentary "Restrepo," and Chris Hondros, a photographer for Getty Images.
Hetherington and Hondros were known for their work documenting human rights issues by photographing images of war and suffering, so their presence at the forefront of Libyan rebellion was no surprise. Both had made their careers by capturing arresting images from war zones for more than a decade, from Kosovo to Afghanistan and most recently Libya.
Hetherington and Hondros had reached the city of Misurata several days before they were killed by a rocket-propelled grenade on April 20. Misurata, Libya’s third-largest city, has been cut off by land from the rest of the country for weeks by armed forces loyal to Qaddafi.
Two other photographers working alongside Hetherington and Hondros — Guy Martin of Panos Images and freelance photographer Michael Christopher Brown — were injured at the time of the attack and are currently recuperating from their wounds. Hundreds of other civilians were also killed in the April 20 attack.