Top photojournalist among 25 killed by suicide blasts
AT LEAST 25 people were killed, including a news agency’s chief photographer and three other journalists, when two suicide blasts ripped through Kabul yesterday, the health ministry has confirmed.
Ministry spokesman Wahid Majroh told Afghanistan’s largest private TV channel Tolo news that at least 27 people were wounded and rushed to hospital, warning that some were in critical condition and the death toll could yet rise.
The second explosion came minutes after the first and targeted reporters at the scene, police spokesman Kabul Hashmat Stanikzai told AFP, whose chief photojournalist Shah Marai was killed in the blasts.
“The bomber disguised himself as a journalist and detonated himself among the crowd,” Mr Stanikzai said.
A security source also confirmed both were suicide blasts.
Elyas Mousavi, a journalist who was at the scene, told ‘The Daily Telegraph’ he crossed a checkpoint to go and cover the attack before he heard a second blast.
“After the second explosion no one remained at the site, because they were afraid of another explosion and then ambulances arrived,” he said.
Qudrattulah Lashkari, another journalist, said he was late in joining colleagues covering the first explosion. “So many of my journalist friends are among the dead and injured,” he said.
The first bomb was detonated by an assailant on a motorcycle and left at least four dead and five injured, according to the interior ministry.
Mr Marai joined AFP as a driver in 1996, the year the Taliban seized power, and began taking pictures on the side, covering stories including the US invasion in 2001.
In 2002 he became a full-time photo stringer, rising through the ranks to become chief photographer.
Isil claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred shortly before 8am near the headquarters of the Afghan intelligence services, the interior ministry said.
It comes days after the Taliban kicked off their spring offensive in an apparent rejection of calls for the militants to take up the Afghan government’s offer of peace talks.
The blasts follow several bloody attacks across the country including a bombing that targeted a voter registration centre in Kabul that killed 57 people last week. (© Daily Telegraph, London)