Taliban terrorists killed students in Pakistan and journos in Afghanistan

Four people have been killed and 24 injured, Afghan Deputy Minister of Interior Muhammad Ayoub Salangi tweeted.

Samandar Khan, President of the Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) an affiliate of the IFJ, said: “It is with all sadness I want share with you all that we lost seven member of Kabura production related to TOLO TV”. As reported by the New York Times in October, the director of TOLOnews, Lotfullah Najafizada, said the Taliban’s statement-labeling reporters “enemy personnel”- “was the first of its kind in the past 14 or 15 years, and it took us by surprise”.

The latest attack adds a unsafe new complication for local journalists working in a country already ranked as low as 122 out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index, a gauge of media freedom compiled by the group Reporters Without Borders.

Tolo is the most popular TV station in Afghanistan, providing viewers with a mixture of news, current affairs and talk shows, as well as soap operas and other entertainment.

The Taliban’s purported involvement in Wednesday’s attack isn’t a major surprise, given its longstanding and violent opposition to free expression and other rights. It was not clear if the attack wounded any Afghan public officials or foreign diplomats.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said journalists, as civilians, may never be the object of attack or threats.

The Taliban says it was behind a bomb attack targeting TV station workers that left seven people dead in the Afghan capital, months after promising to exact revenge for what it said was false and unfair reporting.

An Afghan driver is seen through the shattered windshield of a auto at the site of a suicide attack near the Russian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016.

Biden held a trilateral meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Sharif to help the two neighbours co-operate and co-ordinate on counter-terrorism measures, the White House said.

Sources said that a suicide bomber targeted an Afghan vehicle, reportedly carrying government personnel.

The Taliban rejected the reports as fabrications, saying they were examples of propaganda by the “satanic networks”.