Attack on Afghan jourlists threatens media freedom

New York, Jan 21: Insurgent groups should immediately stop intentiolly targeting jourlists and civilians, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. The Wednesday suicide attack on a mini bus in Kabul ferrying jourlists affiliated with Tolo TV, Afghanistan’s 24-hour news channel, was an atrocity designed to undermine the country’s still-fragile media freedom, it said. Both the Taliban and an individual who claims to represent a group that affiliates with the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed seven jourlists from Tolo TV and its production wing and also injured 25 others including bystanders.

A Pashto-language Taliban statement described the bombing as “revenge” for alleged “false allegations” against the group. The statement explicitly listed both Tolo TV and its news channel rival 1TV as “military targets” for allegedly serving as “informatiol warfare tools of the American and Crusading forces”. (IANS)