The defence correspondent of a prominent daily has been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan. The UK's Ministry of Defence said, Rupert Hamer was one of two journalists embedded with the US Marine Corps when their vehicle hit an improvised bomb near Nawa, in Helmand. Mr Hamer's colleague, photographer Philip Coburn, is in a serious but stable condition. A US Marine and an Afghan soldier were also killed in the blast and four US Mrines were seriously injured.