Media reports say eight journalists were among 29 people killed in a suicide attack in Kabul Monday, including a famed photographer who had written of the dangers of reporting in the Afghan capital.
The journalists reportedly died when a bomber disguised as a TV cameraman detonated a second bomb at the site of an earlier explosion.
The first blast happened at around at 8 a.m. local time in the Shashdarak area of the city, where the US embassy and Afghan government buildings are located, prompting journalists to rush to the scene.
The second explosion came as the attacker, posing as a cameraman, detonated explosives as journalists huddled around the scene, Hashmat Stanikzai, a spokesman for Kabul police department, told CNN.
A further 45 people were injured in the two incidents, and have been taken to city hospitals, Wahid Majroh, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan, was cited as saying.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq news agency.
Islamic State – Khorasan Province – known as ISKP, IS-K and ISIS-K – first emerged in Afghanistan in 2014 as NATO combat troops withdrew from the country and handed over responsibility to Afghan security forces.
The Taliban group has so far not commented regarding the attack although the group announced the start of its spring offensive last week, according to Afghanistan’s Khaama Press.
In the meantime, the attack in Kabul has attracted widespread condemnation in Afghanistan as well as on international level.
The top US commander in Afghanistan and the commander of the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission General John Nicholson in reaction to the deadly Kabul attack has said that the enemies of Afghanistan cannot win.
In a statement released in the aftermath of the attack, Gen. Nicholson said “We condemn in the strongest terms possible the cowardly attacks in Kabul today by two suicide bombers that killed and injured Afghan forces and innocent Afghan citizens, including Afghan journalists.”
NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative Ambassador Cornelius Zimmermann mourned those who lost their lives and wished a fast recovery to the wounded, according to Pajhwok Afghan News.
Last week a suicide bomber killed 57 people at a Kabul voter registration center, an attack ISIS said targeted Afghanistan’s Shia community. The group claimed a bombing at an election center in Jalalabad on Sunday.
