KABUL-
Shocked colleagues of Sardar Ahmad, the senior reporter of Agence France-Presse (AFP) Kabul bureau, Friday mourned the loss of a charming and talented journalist with a deep, nuanced understanding of Afghanistan’s wrenching conflict.
Ahmad was killed along with his wife and two of their children by gunmen at the luxe Serena Hotel in the Afghan capital on Thursday evening.
Ahmad, 40, was at Kabul’s Serena hotel when four gunmen opened fire on staff and guests enjoying dinner, killing nine civilians including four foreigners, reports the news agency.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ahmad’s youngest son reportedly survived the attack and has undergone emergency treatment at a hospital in the city. Ahmad, an Afghan national who also ran the Kabul Pressistan media company, joined the news agency in 2003 and became its senior staff reporter in the capital.
The bloodshed is the latest such incident as Afghanistan’s polls approach.
On March 11, British-Swedish journalist Nils Horner, 52, was shot dead in broad daylight in a street in the supposedly secure diplomatic district.
