Twin bombings in Kabul, 9 journos among 25 dead

Intelligence HQ hit first, second attack on journos covering blast

Kabul, April 30: Two Islamic State suicide bombers struck in Afghanistan’s capital on Monday, killing 25 people, including nine journalists who had rushed to the scene of the first attack, in the deadliest assault on reporters since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

An Agence France-Presse photographer, 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 attacks, according to Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai, who said four police were among those killed.

The attack was the latest in a relentless string of large- scale bombings and assaults in the capital and elsewhere in Afghanistan this year.

A few hours later, in the southern Kandahar province, a suicide car bomb targeting a Nato convoy killed 11 children from a nearby religious school, police said.

The children had gathered around the Nato convoy for fun when the bomber struck, said Abdul Rahim Ayubi, a lawmaker from Kandahar. Eight Romanian Nato soldiers were wounded.

The ISIS group claimed the Kabul bombings in a statement posted online, saying it targeted the Afghan intelligence headquarters.

The statement did not say anything about specifically targeting

In Kandahar, a suicide car bomb targeting a Nato convoy killed 11 kids from a nearby religious school

BBC said one of its reporters, Ahmad Shah, was killed in a separate attack in Khost province, near the border with Pak

journalists. 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.

Mr Stanekzai said the first suicide bomber was on a motorbike, while the second targeted those scrambling to the scene to aid victims.

He said the second attacker was on foot in a crowd of reporters, pretending to be a member of the press, when he set off his payload.

Kabul, April 30: A coordinated double suicide bombing by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria group hit central Kabul this morning, killing at least 25 people, including nine journalists, officials said.

An AFP photographer and a cameraman for a local TV station were among the fatalities, the police said. A BBC reporter was also killed.

At least 45 people were wounded in the twin attacks, 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 Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan so far this year.

And as the Afghan capital reeled from Monday’s assault, a suicide car bombing a few hours later in the southern province of Kandahar killed 11 children, a police spokesman said. In a statement posted on an ISIS- affiliated website, the Islamic State group said two of its martyrdom seekers carried out the double 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. The second explosion was meant to hit those rushing to the scene of the attack to help the victims of the first blast, he added. —

— AP, AFP Victims in double explosions lie on the ground in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday. AFP chief photographer Shah Marai ( inset) was among nine journalists killed in the blast.

— AP A man cries after he lost his journalist son in explosions in Kabul.

— AP Journalists mourn for their colleagues who were killed in Kabul.

— AP A wounded man looks at the site of double explosions, in Kabul on Monday. The explosions targeted central Kabul on Monday morning, killing people and wounding a dozen, authorities said. AFP chief photographer Shah Marai was also among those killed. He...