A double bombing by the Taliban near the Afghan parliament building killed dozens of people including a TV journalist and one of the channel's female employees and wounded three other media staff.
This statement was originally published on afjc.af on 12 January 2017.
A double bombing by the Taliban near the Afghan parliament building killed dozens of people including a TV journalist and one of the channel’s female employees and wounded three other media staff on 10 January 2017.
According to a local official, up to 50 people were killed and at least 80 wounded in the bombings.
The bombings, which appeared coordinated, took place at around 4pm on Tuesday 10 January as a convoy of parliament staff was leaving the offices in DarulAman Road in PD6.
According to reports, a suicide bomber blew himself up first at the entrance to the parliamentary offices and then a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives.
Halim Tanwir, senior cultural advisor and acting head of the Parliamentary Radio TV, told the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) that Norullah, a reporter, and Farida an employee of the office, had been killed in the attack.
He said Norullah was 23 years old and hailed from central Panjshir province. He joined the parliamentary TV channel three months ago.
The injured included two other employees of the parliamentary TV channel and Taher Paiman, a journalist with the weekly Kherad. Their injuries are not life-threatening.
The Taliban militant group issued a statement claiming responsibility for the Parliament bombings.
“We condemn this barbaric act which has claimed so many innocent lives, including our media colleague Noorullah and Farida,” said Ahmad Quraishi, AFJC’s executive director.
The Taliban should respect the right of journalists and media workers to operate without fear for their lives from deliberate targeted attacks – any attack on them as civilian targets constitutes a war crime, Quraishi added.
Noorullah and Farida have unfortunately become the first media fatalities of 2017. AFJC’s records show that their death brought to more than 68 the number of journalists and media workers killed in Afghanistan since the falling of the Taliban regime in 2001.
