US urges Afghanistan-Pakistan on Afghan peace process

He said four of the seven dead were women and that 27 civilians were injured – mostly production-company employees.

The assault on Tolo, a privately run news and entertainment station often critical of the militants, marks the first major attack on an Afghan media organisation since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.

“Unfortunately, in the terrorist attack today in Darulaman Road in Kabul, we lost 7 staff members”, Tolo TV said on its Twitter account.

The Taliban are believed to be responsible for the bombing since the group previously announced that the targets of the attack were legitimate targets.

A suicide bombing near the Russian embassy in the capital of Kabul targeted the staff of a TV station the Taliban had previously threatened.

The blast killed at least seven people and wounded 24 others.

The attack came as US officials said the Obama administration has granted the military new authority to strike the Islamic State in Afghanistan, a move seen as signaling a more sustained fight against the extremist group outside of its base in Iraq and Syria.

They called on all Taliban groups to enter into early peace talks and agreed to meet again in Islamabad on February 6.

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

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…”

“They discussed recent efforts to relaunch peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban”, the release stated.

“Designating journalists and other civilians as military targets does not make them so, and deliberately attacking them constitutes a war crime”, she said, lamenting increasing intimidation and violence from both state and non-state figures in recent years.

Formed in the 1990s, the Taliban seeks to enforce Sharia law in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.

The Taliban have not formally shown reaction to the process however, with their unofficial websites and online media opposing the process.