TV station attacked in Kabul
November 7, 2017
Security guards at the offices of the Shamshad private television station in Kabul killed one of the attackers who broke into the building after an explosion on Tuesday morning.
A group of armed men entered the building and security forces fought with them. Most of the TV staff who had been in the building were rescued, an interior ministry spokesman said.
Shamshad TV reporter Fazel Rabi Shinwari told DW that two guards were killed in the first explosion.
"Two more attackers tried to enter the main building, but they were stopped by the security forces," he said.
The "Islamic State" (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq news agency.
The Pashto language broadcaster stopped normal programming during the attack, but resumed shortly after it had finished.
Shamshad staff members reached by telephone said that up to five people appeared to have been killed, and via Twitter, the station said "at least 20 staffers and journalists" were wounded.
The private station was launched in 2006 and broadcasts 24 hours a day with educational, news, drama and entertainment programs. Some 80 percent of the output is in Pashto language, which is one of Afghanistan's two official languages and the second-largest regional language of Pakistan. An estimated 60 million people worldwide are believed to speak Pashto.
Renewed attacks
Taliban insurgents issued an immediate denial of responsibility for Tuesday morning's attack. Last year seven workers at the Tolo private television station were killed by a Taliban suicide bomber and six other media workers died as a result of attacks.
Security in the Afghan capital has been increased in recent months following a truck bomb attack in May which killed 150 people. Last month a suicide bomb attack on a Shiite mosque during prayers which killed 56 people and there was a suicide attack on a bus carrying Afghan army trainees.
Earlier this month Kabul police intercepted a lorry with 2,700 kilos (6,000 pounds of explosives hidden under tomatoes.
jm/kms (Reuters, AFP, EFE)