Swedish radio journalist Nils Horner –South Asia correspondent for Swedish Radio – was gunned down Tuesday in a brazen daytime attack in the heart of Kabul’s diplomatic district.

“Nils Horner was a very experienced and respected journalist. I valued him highly. The killing of him today in Kabul is a true tragedy”, Sweden’s foreign minister Carl Bildt said on Twitter.

Swedish Radio’s CEO Cilla Benkö said this was one of the worst days in the history of Swedish Radio.

“Nils was one of our absolute best and most experienced correspondents and what has happened to him today is terrible. We are now trying to get as many details as we can”, she said.

Statement by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong where Nils Horner was a member:

We have learned with deep shock and sadness that FCC member Nils Horner was murdered today in Kabul. Nils was shot dead by unknown assailants. He was 51.

We demand that Afghan authorities conduct a full investigation into this senseless crime, and bring the culprits to justice as soon as possible.

Nils, who joined the club in December 2012, lived in Hong Kong but his work as a correspondent for Sveriges Radio took him all over Asia. He covered many of the region’s biggest stories of the past decade, including the 2001 fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the 2004 tsunami, as well as the Iraq war.

“In many ways, he died as he lived — in the middle of a news story,” his Swedish colleague Johan Nylander remarked.

We will announce a wake in memory of Nils in the coming days. For now, please join us in extending heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.