Journalists targeted in Afghan terror attacks

Nine media workers killed in Kabul amid
mounting insecurity – despite prospective peace talks

One-Minute Read

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.

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”.