IS CLAIMS TV STATION ATTACK IN KABUL, 2 DIE
Gunmen disguised as policemen stormed a television station in Kabul on Tuesday, killing 2 persons in the latest attack targeting Afghan journalists. The assault lasted about three hours.
KABUL: A defiant Kabul TV station was back on the air on Tuesday, moments after the end of an attack by gunmen who had stormed the broadcaster, killing two security guards and leaving two dozen wounded.
The assault on Shamshad TV by militants disguised as policemen, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, highlights the risks facing journalists who are increasingly targets in the war-torn country.
After about three hours of fighting, Afghan special forces killed the two attackers, who were armed with guns and grenades, and freed staff trapped inside the building.
“The attack has ended. According to the commander of the special forces all the staff who were inside the building have been rescued,” Shamshad TV announced as it went back on the air.
A Shamshad news presenter, his hands bandaged after cutting himself on glass as he fled the attackers, told viewers that 20 colleagues had been wounded. Six were in a critical condition.
Shamshad news director Abid Ehsas, interviewed by rival Tolo News at a hospital in the Afghan capital where some of his wounded colleagues were being treated, said: “This is an attack on freedom of media but they cannot silence us.”