Suicide blasts target helpers

A CO-ORDINATED double suicide bombing has hit central Kabul, killing 25 people, including an AFP photographer and a cameraman for a local TV station, the Afghan police said.

At least 45 people were wounded in the twin attacks yesterday, according to Kabul police spokesman, Hashmat Stanekzai, who also added that four policemen were among those killed.

The attack was the latest in a relentless string of deadly large-scale bombings and assaults that have struck in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan so far this year.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but both Taliban and Islamic State group are active and have repeatedly claimed attacks in Kabul.

The suicide blasts took place in the central Shash Darak area, which is home to the NATO headquarters and a number of embassies in Afghanistan.

Mr Stanekzai, the police spokesman, said the first suicide bomber was on a motorbike.

The second explosion was meant to hit those rushing to the scene of the attack to help the victims of the first blast.

He said the second attacker was on foot, in a crowd of reporters that had rushed to the scene of the first attack, pretending to be one of the media.

He then detonated his explosives while still among the reporters, the spokesman said, intentionally targeting journalists.

“The second explosion took place in the same area. We do not know the nature of the blast, but it is the same location,” interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told AFP.

Agence France-Presse reported that the news agency’s chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, was among those killed.

THE SECOND EXPLOSION TOOK PLACE IN THE SAME AREA. WE DO NOT KNOW THE NATURE OF THE BLAST, BUT IT IS THE SAME LOCATION.

NAJIB DANISH, INTERIOR MINISTRY

AFP said Marai died in a blast that struck a group of journalists who had rushed to the scene of the earlier suicide attack in Kabul.

Sediqullah Tawhidi, an official form the Afghan Journalist Safety Committee, said a cameraman from the local TOLO TV also was killed.

Police officer Jan Agha said the journalists died in the second blast, which also wounded two police officers.

Kabul chief of police Dawood Amin said the area of Kabul that was targeted, which includes many foreign offices, was quickly sealed off and authorities were investigating.