Double Kabul suicide bombing kills 25, including 9 reporters

ISLAMIC STATE CLAIMS ATTACK Deadliest day for Afghan media since the 2001 campaign to oust Taliban

A coordinated double suicide bombing by the Islamic State group hit Monday morning rush hour in central Kabul, killing at least 25 people, including nine Afghan journalists, officials said.

Shah Marai, the chief photographer or Agence France-Presse news agency in Kabul, a cameraman for the local Tolo TV station and several reporters for the Afghan branch of Radio Free Europe were among the fatalities, police said.

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

The suicide attack that killed the journalists as they gathered to cover the first bomb explosion was the deadliest day for the country’s media since a US-led campaign ousted the Taliban in 2001. Police had blocked off the site of the earlier blast and photographers, cameramen and reporters were standing around in a loose group when the bomber struck, killing seven journalists outright and wounding several, two of whom later died.

Hours after the Kabul twin blasts, a BBC reporter was killed in an attack in the Khost province of eastern Afghanistan.

In a statement posted on an IS-affiliated website, the Islamic State group said two of its martyrdom seekers carried out the Kabul bombings, targeting the headquarters of the “renegade” Afghan intelligence services.

The blasts took place in the central Shash Darak area, home to Nato headquarters and a number of embassies and foreign offices — as well as the Afghan intelligence service.

Stanekzai, the police spokesman, said the first suicide bomber was on a motor bike while the second explosion was meant to hit those scrambling to get to the scene to help the victims of the initial blast. The second attacker was on foot, pretending to be one of the media, the spokesman said. The bomber then detonated his explosives while still among the reporters, Stanekzai said, intentionally targeting journalists.

The Paris-based Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said 36 media workers have been killed in Afghanistan in attacks by IS or the Taliban since 2016. It urged the Afghan government to do more to protect journalists.

Survivors and witnesses recounted scenes of mayhem.

Jawed Ghulam Sakhi, a 28-year-old a taxi driver said: “when the explosion happened, everywhere was covered with dust and fire, it was such a horrific scene” with bodies and body parts “thrown about on the street and the pavement.”

“I saw journalists covered with blood, this time they targeted the media,” Sakhi added.

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