Khalid Agha Yaqubi, a 27-year-old employee for a local radio station in northern Afghnistan, was shot dead. The shooter, who was accompanied by two or three people, knocked on the door [of the journalist's house] and opened fire on him, when his child opened the door.
Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) is saddened to learn that Khalid Agha Yaqubi, a 27-year-old employee for the local radio station Lahza in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, was shot dead on Saturday 12 July 2014.
Ahmad Fahim Haqbin, head of Lahza Radio, told AFJC that Yaqubi was shot on the head in front of his kids and the shooter managed to escape. “The shooter, who was accompanied by two or three people, knocked on the door [of the journalist’s house] and opened fire on Yaqubi, when his child opened the door.”
Haqbin said that Yaqubi, father of two children aged 4 and 2, had been the producer and presenter of a radio program on social issues since 2010.
Haqbin further noted that [as of 13 July] it was still too early to talk about the reason behind the murder. Police have begun an investigation to identify those who were behind the killing.
The AFJC strongly condemned the murder of Khalid Agha Yaqubi and called on the Afghan government to thoroughly investigate the incident.
Since 1993, as many as 45 journalists, writers and other media workers have been killed in Afghanistan – 28 of them were killed in targeted attacks, while 17 others died as a result of fighting and explosions.
AFJC’s findings show that apart from two cases, the perpetrators of these incidents continue to enjoy impunity.
