Bombing close to Russian embassy in Kabul kills 4

The blast came was the latest in a series of suicide attacks in Kabul that have coincided with efforts to revive peace process with Taliban insurgents.

“Journalists are targeted throughout the world but now entire news organizations are threatened by large-scale attacks”, Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.

It particularly cited allegations of rape and other crimes against the group during the Taliban’s brief capture of the northern city of Kunduz in September.

In a statement to Al-Jazeera, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Also Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the attack against Tolo TV was an “atrocity created to undermine Afghanistan’s still-fragile media freedom”.

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

At least 25 people were wounded in the bombing, including women and children, police officials said.

A suicide bomber struck the minibus with workers from Tolo TV, owned by the private Moby Group, the country’s biggest media organization.

The Taliban ruled the country from 1991 until it was ousted by the US invasion in 2003.

The Taliban, who are fighting to topple the Western-backed government in Kabul and reimpose strict Islamic law, said they carried out the attack and issued another grim warning.

Rajab Noorzayi said his daughter Zeinab was on the bus but he hasn’t been able to locate her. “I’m looking for her but the police say everyone has been taken to hospital”, he said.

Gen. John Campbell, the commander of USA forces in Afghanistan, told Congress last fall that between 1,000 and 3,000 active ISIS members were in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have been on the offensive since the USA and its allies withdrew most combat troops at the end of 2014, and the insurgents now control more territory than at any time since they were driven from power in 2001.

The relatively poor, war-torn nation of Afghanistan has been one such locale, with President Ashraf Ghani warning the U.S. Congress last March about the “terrible threat” the group poses to his country and its neighbors.