Isil marks out journalists in double suicide attack in Kabul

NINE journalists were among 25 people killed when a coordinated double suicide bombing struck the Afghan capital in a deliberate Isil attack on reporters.

A bomber on a motorbike struck close to intelligence service offices in central Kabul, then a second attacker, posing as a reporter, detonated a device as journalists gathered at the scene.

A statement on a website affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) said it had carried out the rush-hour attack in the Shash Darak area of the city.

The blast was the latest in a relentless string of mass casualty bombings in the country. Last week, an Isil suicide bomber attacked a voter registration centre in Kabul, killing 60 people.

The latest to die included Shah Marai, chief photographer in the country for the French news agency Agence France-presse.

Najib Danish, a spokesman for the interior ministry, told Reuters the second bomber appeared to have posed as a journalist. “He showed his press card and stood among journalists before blowing himself up,” he said.

Elyas Mousavi, a journalist at the scene, told The Daily Telegraph: “After the second explosion no one remained at the site because they were afraid of another explosion … I saw also some security personal dead,” he said.

Qudrattulah Lashkari, another journalist, said he had escaped the blast by being late. “So many of my journalist friends are among the dead and injured,” he said.

Elsewhere, a reporter for the BBC’S Afghan service was also killed yesterday. Ahmad Shah, 29, was shot dead by unidentified men in the eastern province of Khost.