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Coordinated double suicide attack in Kabul kills 25, including 9 journalists
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Suicide bombing on military convoy in Kandahar kills 11 people, including 9 children
KABUL/KANDAHAR: A coordinated double suicide bombing in Kabul and another targetting a military convoy in the southern city of Kandahar on Monday killed at least 36 people, including 9 schoolchildren, while over 60 others were injured, days after the Afghan Taliban kicked off their spring offensive in an apparent rejection of calls for the militants to take up the Afghan government’s offer of peace talks.
Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai confirmed that four policemen were among the 25 persons killed, while an Afghan media watchdog, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC), confirmed that nine journalists were also killed in the twin attacks.
KABUL BOMBINGS:
The AJSC said that five journalists were reportedly wounded in the Kabul attacks. Agence France-Presse (AFP) confirmed that its chief photographer Shah Marai, a journalist from 1TV and one from Tolo News were among the dead.
A first bomb was detonated by an assailant on a motorcycle and left at least four dead and five injured, according to the Interior Ministry. A second explosion came minutes after the first targeted reporters at the scene, Stanekzai told AFP.
“The bomber disguised himself as a journalist and detonated himself among the crowd,” he said.
A security source also confirmed both were suicide blasts.
The militant Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement issued via its propaganda agency Amaq. It claimed that two suicide bombers had targeted the Kabul headquarters of Afghanistan’s intelligence services. The Afghan Taliban are yet to offer a statement about the two attacks.
Shah Marai joined AFP as a driver in 1996, the year the Taliban seized power, and began taking pictures on the side, covering stories including the US invasion in 2001.
In 2002 he became a full-time photo stringer, rising through the ranks to become chief photographer in the bureau. He leaves behind six children, including a newborn daughter.
“This is a devastating blow, for the brave staff of our close-knit Kabul bureau and the entire agency,” the agency’s global news director Michele Leridon said. “We can only honour the strength, courage, and generosity of a photographer who covered often traumatic, horrific events with sensitivity and consummate professionalism.”
Separately, a BBC reporter was killed in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the broadcaster said, hours after twin blasts in Kabul marked the deadliest day for journalists in the war-torn country since the Taliban’s fall in 2001.
“It is with great sadness that the BBC can confirm the death of BBC Afghan reporter Ahmad Shah following an attack earlier today,” BBC World Service director Jamie Angus said in a statement. The attack took place in the restive eastern province of Khost, which borders Pakistan.
KANDAHAR SUICIDE BOMBING:
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber targeted a military convoy in Daman district of Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province killing 11 persons, including 9 children and injuring over a dozen others, a local official said.
“The armed militants conducted a suicide attack against a military convoy, probably foreign military convoy in Abdullah village of Daman district at 10:30 am local time today, killing 11 children and injuring 16 others including nine children and two policemen,” the official with provincial police Public Relation Office told Xinhua.
The official declined to be identified, saying authorised officials would brief the media.
SPATE OF DEADLY ATTACKS:
Monday’s blasts follow several bloody attacks across the country, including a bombing that targeted a voter registration centre in Kabul that killed at least 57 people last week.
The Taliban said the offensive was partly a response to US President Donald Trump’s new strategy for Afghanistan announced last August, which gave US forces more leeway to go after insurgents.
President Ashraf Ghani’s government is under pressure on multiple fronts this year as it prepares to hold October’s long-delayed elections while its security forces struggle to get the upper hand on the battlefield and prevent civilian casualties.
Officials have acknowledged that security is a major concern because the Taliban and other militant groups control or contest large swathes of the country.
A series of attacks on voter registration centres across the war-torn has deterred many Afghans from signing up to participate in the October 20 ballot.
Some Western and Afghan officials expect 2018 to be a particularly bloody year.
General John Nicholson, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, told Tolo TV last month that he expected the Taliban to carry out more suicide attacks this fighting season.
