. . .while rescuing a kidnapped reporter for the New York Times. AP:

KABUL — British commandos freed a New York Times reporter early Wednesday from Taliban captives who kidnapped him over the weekend in northern Afghanistan, but one of the commandos and a Times’ translator were killed in the rescue, officials said.
Reporter Stephen Farrell was taken hostage along with his translator in the northern province of Kunduz on Saturday. German commanders had ordered U.S. jets to drop bombs on two hijacked fuel tankers, causing a number of civilian casualties, and reporters traveled to the area to cover the story.
Two military officials told The Associated Press that one British commando died during the early morning raid. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the death had not been officially announced.
The Times reported that Farrell’s Afghan translator, Sultan Munadi, also was killed.

The kidnapping was kept secret in an effort to protect the reporter. From the New York Times account of the incident:

Until now, the kidnapping had been kept quiet by The Times and most other news organizations out of concern for the men’s safety.
“We feared that media attention would raise the temperature and increase the risk to the captives,” said Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times. “We’re overjoyed that Steve is free, but deeply saddened that his freedom came at such a cost. We are doing all we can to learn the details of what happened. Our hearts go out to Sultan’s family and to the family of the British commando who gave his life in the rescue.”

This is the second “secret” kidnapped New York Times reporter this year. Ed Morrissey at HotAir.com, who knew about the first reporter and kept it secret, had a thoughtful post on the matter that’s worth a read on the tricky balance of the public’s right to know and a person’s safety. Ed’s conclusion:

In the end, I agree with Robert Stein at TMV in that one has to balance the public’s right to know with the safety and security of real people. News organizations might want to think about that in the future, too.

Reporters who publish classified information that endangers soldiers’ lives — the very soldiers who risk everything to save captured embeds — would do well to heed Captain Ed.