Three journalists killed in Taliban attack

French journalist Johanne Sutton

AFGHANISTAN -- Three journalists were killed in a Taliban ambush Sunday -- the first Western media to die in the conflict.

Australian journalist Paul McGeough, who works for the Sydney Morning Herald, was one of six journalists travelling on the roof of a Northern Alliance armored personnel carrier when it came under mortar and machine gun fire.

The troop carrier was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade which did not explode on impact but exploded when it hit the ground, McGeough reports on the Sydney Morning Herald website.

``At about 6.30pm Commander Hassan of the Northern Alliance suggested that we go to look at a Taliban trench that had surrendered," said McGeough.

``When we got there, they had not surrendered."

The troop carrier did an abrupt turn and three of the journalists tumbled off the roof, he reports.

"Three of us clung on for grim death and we survived,'' said McGeough.

The vehicle then sped from the battle leaving behind those who fell.

They included three journalists -- a German man and two French women -- and several alliance soldiers.

Their bodies were recovered later by alliance troops, McGeough reports.

Radio France Internationale reported earlier that 34-year-old radio reporter Johanne Sutton was one of the victims.

The other worked for the Luxembourg-based radio station RTL, and the male worked for the German magazine, Stern, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

In a statement from his office, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said: "I have learned with great sadness of the death of Johanne Sutton, caught in an ambush in Afghanistan while she was carrying out her work as a journalist."

"In my own name and that of the government, I want to present my most sincere condolences to the family of Johanne Sutton and to say I share the pain of all her loved ones and the grieving of the war correspondents' community," Jospin said.