Anton Hammerl

According to media reports, on the morning of 5 April 2011, three other reporters beside Hammerl were attacked by Libyan soldiers who shot at them in a remote desert location outside of Brega. These included two Americans: James Foley, a freelance reporter and regular contributor to the Global Post, and Clare Morgana Gillis, a freelance reporter (Atlantic Monthly, Christian Science Monitor, USA Today), as well as Spanish photographer Manu Brabo. When the shooting started, Foley and Gillis both heard Hammerl yell out, "Help!" Hammerl was killed and the other three journalists were beaten by the pro-Gaddafi forces and then taken as their prisoners.

On 6 December 2011, a shadow minister of International Relations and Cooperation, charged that the South African government had not revealed the measures it had taken during Hammerl's disappearance or how it had verified his status. The Department of International Relations and Cooperations said the situation was made difficult by the war. Penny Sukhraj formed a nonprofit organisation, so they could spread the word about his disappearance.

In 2003, Hammerl married Penny Sukhraj. They had two children. Hammerl was also a father to a daughter from a previous relationship. Hammerl was a dual citizen of Austria and South Africa.

In 1995, Hammerl, while continuing his work with The Star, began working as a senior photographer for independent South African newspapers the Saturday Star and the Sunday Independent. In 2001, he became the picture editor and chief photographer at the Saturday Star. From 2006 until his death in 2011, Hammerl went back to being a freelance photojournalist in London.

In 1992, Hammerl began working as a freelance photojournalist for The Star, where he met colleague and mentor, Ken Oosterbroek. A South African, Oosterbroek was a member of the Bang-Bang Club. After working with The Star, Hammerl began to freelance for Associated Press, covering South Africa democratisation and the end of apartheid.

Hammerl attended King Edwards Primary and Roosevelt High School. When his photographic studies ended in the early 1990s, he began his career in photojournalism. Hammerl also served in Angola with the South African Defence Force. After completing national service, he enrolled at Pretoria Technikon to study photography.

Anton Hammerl (12 December 1969 – 5 April 2011) was a photojournalist shot and killed by troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi outside of Brega while covering the Libyan Civil War on 5 April 2011. After his death, Hammerl's family was led to believe by the Gaddafi regime that he was alive and safe, but held in detention in Libya. His family learned about his death on 19 May after the release of a group of journalists who had been with Hammerl when he was killed.

Anton Lazarus Hammerl was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on 12 December 1969 to Ludwig and Freda Hammerl.