BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Eight journalists so far have been killed since the beginning of U.S.-led military strikes, but on the ground there, peril takes many forms. Alessio Vinci explains in his Reporter's Notebook from Mazar-e Sharif.</s>ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We arrived in Northern Afghanistan after a three-hour journey cruising the Amu-Darya River on a tugboat from the Uzbek town of Termez. I was following the first humanitarian aid shipment from Uzbekistan into Afghanistan. The country was still largely controlled by the Taliban, but the Northern Alliance had just conquered the strategic city of Mazar-e Sharif, one- hour's drive south from this border it now controlled. For us, reaching Mazar-e Sharif was a priority. There were no international journalists in this part of Afghanistan, hard to reach because of the war and sealed borders of neighboring countries. As we approached, the dock residents were mainly surprised to see arriving passengers. Some looked preoccupied, or even scared, and I thought, is this how the entire country feels? Then, carefully, a few broke the silence with a cheer and applause.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go away! Turn the cameras off.</s>VINCI: U.S. and British special troops, in no mood to be filmed by television news crews, coordinated efforts to quell the uprising. From the outside, we could only hear the sounds of an intense battle, with bullets ricocheting just above us. Filming a stand-up under these circumstances is not easy. But the story was inside, and CNN's cameraman Alessandro Gentile (ph) and myself climbed the fortress wall, following Northern Alliance fighters. They appeared relaxed. We were scared. And our first thought was to get out of it alive and tell the story of Qala I Jhangi. Alessio Vinci, CNN, Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan.
Reporter's Notebook: Peril Takes Many Forms on Ground in Afghanistan for Reporters