Taliban claims attack on Afghan TV workers

Wednesday evening’s suicide attack on a private TV channel’s bus in the heart of Kabul has drawn sharp criticism from media watchdogs and other organisations.

The bombing left some workers burning inside the vehicle which was taking them home, an employee told AFP, adding that most of those killed were behind-the-scenes staff from the channel’s graphics and dubbing departments.

The attack was eventually claimed by the Taliban, which said in a statement, as reported by Al Jazeera, that “Kabul resident Faridullah conducted the attack…”

As the biggest TV station in Afghanistan, Tolo News employs dozens of journalists, many in the volatile provinces.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the van was under Taliban surveillance and called Tolo News an “important tool of warfare of America and the crusaders” in Afghanistan. Under Taliban rule, which lasted 1996 to 2001, television was banned and deemed un-Islamic by the extremist group.

The 24-hour broadcaster had received threats from the Taliban last October after its reports of abuses by Taliban fighters during the battle for Kunduz, the IFJ reported.

The emergence of free media is seen as a major achievement of post-Taliban Afghanistan.

There have been no reports of wounded Afghan or foreign officials.

Tolo has also angered the Taliban and other conservatives in Afghanistan by broadcasting foreign soap operas, showing women on television and running talent shows featuring singing and dancing. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 27 journalists have been killed since 1992 (Afghanistan ranks 12th).

“Unfortunately, in the terrorist attack today… we lost seven staff members”.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who is on an official visit to Switzerland, said his government “would not negotiate with those who shed the blood of innocent people” and promised stepped up crackdowns on militants.

Insurgent groups should immediately stop intentionally targeting journalists and civilians, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

It called on the Afghan government to seek out and prosecute the perpetrators of this crime as quickly as possible.

Rahimi condemned the bombing, saying the media and freedom of the press should never come under attack.