By Jose Kavi
New Delhi: The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia on April 30 condemned the double suicide bombing attack in Kabul that led to the death of 30 people, including nine media persons.
“The journalists were reportedly killed in a second blast after rushing to the scene of the first attack. The incident appears to be the worst such incident in Afghanistan since 2001,” said a press note from the club’s president S Venkat Narayan.
Among the dead was Agence France-Press Chief Photographer Shah Marai.
Some reports suggest that the second suicide bomber disguised himself as a journalist and rushed in with other photographers, and triggered the explosives.
“This is a cowardly attack on Afghanistan’s courageous journalists, and we strongly condemn it. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims,” Narayan said.
He also noted that this was not the first time that journalists had been targeted. On January 20, 2016, a similar suicide bombing in Kabul had killed seven employees of the Afghan Tolo TV station.
“We are particularly concerned that journalists and first responders to the first suicide bombing were deliberately targeted, and the second suicide bomber had disguised himself as a journalist.”
The club official urged the Afghan authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident.