Journalists targeted in Afghan terror attacks
Nine media workers killed in Kabul amid mounting insecurity - despite prospective peace talks
Twenty-six people, including nine journalists, were killed yesterday in a series of explosions in the Afghan capital Kabul.
The attacks “underlined mounting insecurity despite repeated government pledges to tighten defences”, Reuters reports.
AFP’s chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, was among the journalists targeted by a man disguised as a TV cameraman, who detonated a second bomb at the site of an earlier explosion, the news agency says.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In a statement on social media app Telegram, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the blasts and said a “martyrdom brother” had detonated his explosive vest among a group of “apostates”.
In separate attacks, a reporter for the BBC’s Afghan service, Agmad Shah, was shot dead by an unknown gunman in the Khost region and 11 children died in a suicide bomb intended to target Nato troops in Kandahar province.
A huge suicide blast last week claimed the lives of 57 people who were queuing at a voter registration centre.
While huge death tolls from terrorist attacks have become commonplace in Afghanistan over the past decade and a half, the deliberate targeting of journalists is a relatively new tactic by IS and the Taliban.
At least 20 were killed last year, but it is believed Monday’s death toll was the worst for media workers in a single attack in the county.
The rapid succession of explosions “were a grim reminder of the strength of both the Taliban and Islamic State’s emerging Afghanistan branch to wreak violence despite increased US air attacks under Trump’s new policy for the 16-year-old war”, says Reuters.
According to research conducted by the BBC, the Taliban remains active in the country, only 30% of which is under full government control.
CNN says the increase in violence “comes despite reports around six weeks ago that suggested some factions of the Taliban had expressed interested in pursuing peace talks with the Afghan government”.
The Afghan government said in February it would be willing to recognise the Taliban as a legitimate political party as part of a potential ceasefire agreement with the Islamist militant group.
The country’s president, Ashraf Ghani, said he is willing to engage in peace talks “without preconditions” and would offer a “comprehensive peace deal” to the Taliban, “so that it could not be rejected”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 hilariously spirited cartoons about the spirit of Christmas
Cartoons Artists take on excuses, pardons, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Inside the house of Assad
The Explainer Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, ruled Syria for more than half a century but how did one family achieve and maintain power?
By The Week UK Published
-
Sudoku medium: December 22, 2024
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Why is Islamic State targeting Russia?
Today's Big Question Islamist terror group's attack on 'soft target' in Moscow was driven in part by 'opportunity and personnel'
By Elliott Goat, The Week UK Published
-
The Taliban’s ‘unprecedented’ crackdown on opium poppy crops in Afghanistan
feature Cultivation in former poppy-growing heartland Helmand has been slashed from 120,000 hectares to less than 1,000
By Julia O'Driscoll Published
-
The deadly attacks on Syrian truffle hunters
feature Islamic State suspected of targeting Syrians risking their lives to secure much-needed income
By The Week Staff Published
-
Taliban releases 2 Americans held in Afghanistan
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
American detained in Afghanistan for over 2 years released in prisoner exchange
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Afghanistan: A year after the withdrawal
opinion What did the U.S. leave behind when it pulled out of Afghanistan?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
Prominent cleric who supported female education killed in Afghanistan bombing
Speed Read
By Harold Maass Published
-
What the U.S. accomplished by killing al-Zawahiri
opinion The sharpest opinions on the debate from around the web
By Harold Maass Published