Through the lens of Anja Niedringhaus, photographer shot in Afghanistan

A veteran Associated Press photographer, Anja Niedringhaus, 48 was killed and an AP reporter was wounded today when an Afghan policeman opened fire while they were sitting in their car in eastern Afghanistan. (AP)

Anja Niedringhaus, 48, an internationally acclaimed German photographer, was killed instantly, according to an AP Television News freelancer who witnessed the shooting.
A German soldier sits next to candles lit to celebrate his 34th birthday, during a long term patrol in Yaftal e Sofla, in the mountainous region of Feyzabad, east of Kunduz, Afghanistan, on September 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

"Anja has spent years in Afghanistan covering the conflict and the people there. Anja was a vibrant, dynamic journalist well-loved for her insightful photographs, her warm heart and joy for life. We are heartbroken at her loss," said AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll, speaking in New York.
Afghan Army soldier Ahmad, 20, pauses as he cleans his weapon after at a training center on the outskirts of Kabul, on May 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

In this photo taken Saturday, September 11, 2010, an Afghan boy on a donkey reacts as Canadian soldiers with the 1st RCR Battle Group, The Royal Canadian Regiment, patrol in Salavat, southwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

An Afghan girl tries to peer through the holes of her burqa as she plays with other children in the old town of Kabul, on April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Comrades of fallen Canadian trooper Larry Rudd carry his casket onto a plane during a ramp ceremony at Kandahar Airfield, on May 26, 2010. Rudd, 26, was the 146th member of the Canadian military to die in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

An Afghan nomad kisses his young daughter while watching his herd in Marjah, Helmand province, on October 20, 2012. In southern Helmand province, one of Afghanistan's deadliest battlefields, angry residents say 11 years of war has brought them widespread insecurity. They say they are too afraid to go out after dark because of marauding bands of thieves and during the day corrupt police and government officials bully them into paying bribes. Development that was promised hasn't materialized and the Taliban's rule is often said to be preferred. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

A German ISAF soldier, bearing a lucky charm attached on his bulletproof vest, enjoys a cigar after arriving with his unit back to the base in Feyzabad, east of Kunduz, on September 11, 2009. The unit was stuck for days in the area of Kunduz and came under heavy fire in which four soldiers where injured and evacuated to the field hospital in Kunduz. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

An Afghan man and a boy listen to music on earphones from an iPod belonging to German ISAF soldiers, during a long-term patrol in Yaftal e Sofla, in the mountainous region of Feyzabad, east of Kunduz, on September 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

An ISAF soldier with the German Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) uses a picture of his family as a bookmark while he reads during a flight on a German army CH-53 helicopter from Kunduz to the German base in Fayzabad, northern Afghanistan, on September 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

An Afghan boy holding a toy gun enjoys a ride with others on a merry-go-round to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr festival, in Kabul, on September 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, file)