Maria Grazia Cutuli

Maria Grazia Cutuli
Born	October 26, 1962 Catania, Italy
Died	November 19, 2001 Sarubi
Cause of death	Murdered
Residence	Milan, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Education	University of Catania
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	Over 11 years
Employer	Corriere della Sera

Maria Grazia Cutuli (October 26, 1962 – November 19, 2001) was an Italian reporter with the Corriere della Sera who was killed while on assignment in Afghanistan while she was covering the US military invasion following the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. She was murdered between Jalalabad and Kabul with three other journalists. Cutuli was the first female and first Italian journalist to be killed during the War in Afghanistan in 2001.

Maria Grazia Cutuli was born and raised in Catania, Sicily, Italy, but later she resided in Milan as a professional journalist. She studied philosophy and graduated from the University of Catania. She took up residence in Milan by 1990.

Maria Grazia Cutuli worked as a journalist for over 11 years. She first worked for the newspaper La Sicilia, at first writing theater reviews, and in local broadcast news. She wrote for magazines, such as Epoca and Panorama. She traveled to Israel, Cambodia, Sudan, Rwanda and South Africa and wrote freelance articles to build her credentials as a foreign correspondent. She worked for Corriere della Sera since 1997. After her murder in Afghanistan, she was elevated to "Special Correspondent" by Corriere della Sera.

Maria Grazia Cutuli was murdered along with Spanish citizen Julio Fuentes of El Mundo, and Australian Harry Burton and Afghani Azizullah Haidari, who both worked for Reuters. They were murdered about 90 kilometers from Kabul near Sarubi, located in the Nangarhar Province, on 19 November 2001, as the group traveled between Jalalabad and Kabul. Her autopsy revealed that she had died from 4 gun shot wounds to the back and it confirmed her earlobe had been cut off, which was done by her murderer for jewelry.

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