Bombing attack kills local TV reporter, technician in Afghanistan

The attack targeted a minivan carrying 15 employees of the private Khurshid television channel during the rush hour on Saturday.

Pictures shared on social media showed a white minibus with extensive damage to its front.

“Our colleagues Mir Wahed Shah, an economic reporter, and Shafiq Amiri, an employee in the technical department, were martyred in the incident,” said Mohammad Rafi Rafiq Sediqi, the chief executive of Khurshid TV.

At least seven others were also wounded in the attack.

Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry confirmed the attack, saying the minivan had been the target.

It was the second such attack targeting the employees of Khurshid TV in less than a year. In August 2019, two passers-by were killed when a sticky bomb struck a Khurshid TV van.

Daesh claimed responsibility for that attack, as well.

The new attack comes shortly after a three-day ceasefire offered by the Taliban militant group to the Afghan government ended late on Tuesday.

The Afghan government has been involved in a prisoner exchange with the Taliban, and there are hopes that the two sides could start a peace process.

If that happens, the Afghan military will be able to spare enough attention to focus on fighting the Daesh terrorist group.