The killing in Afghanistan of a top British defence correspondent has prompted the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to issue a warning about the high risks faced by reporters "embedded" with military units.

Rupert Hamer (left), of the Sunday Mirror, was killed by a roadside bomb on 10 January along with an Afghan soldier and a US marine. He was the second embedded journalist to be killed in Afghanistan recently - Michelle Lang, a Canadian reporter, died in a similar incident on 30 December. A British news photographer working with Hamer was seriously wounded.

IFJ general secretary Aidan White said Hamer's death "shows that Afghanistan remains one of the world’s most dangerous reporting assignments. Travelling with the army does not lessen the risk to reporters. Indeed, as this tragedy shows, it can put journalists directly in the firing line."

Hamer, 39, a father of three, was the first British journalist to be killed in Afghanistan. His death prompted a special "tribute edition"  of the Daily Mirror, which he joined 12 years ago.

He was on a one-month "embed" mission with the marines, along with photographer Phil Coburn, 42, and a contingent of troops when their vehicle hit an IED (improvised explosive device) on a rural road in Helmand province.

Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver said:Hamer - known fondly to his colleagues as "Corporal Hamer" - was "a fine, fearless and skilled writer... He believed the only place to report a war was from the frontline. As our defence correspondent he wanted to be embedded with US marines at the start of their vital surge into Afghanistan.

"He left on New Year’s Eve with Phil. He was a seasoned, highly regarded and brave journalist who had reported from both Iraq and Afghanistan on many occasions. It was his fifth trip to Afghanistan, and he had forged friendships with a number of the soldiers serving out there."

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