Former Afghan TV presenter among 3 dead in Kabul explosion
Kabul, Nov 7 (efe-epa).- A former news anchor with Afghanistan’s popular Tolo TV and two more civilians were killed when a magnetic bomb attached to his car went off near his home in Kabul on Saturday, officials said.
Kabul police spokesperson Firdaws Faramarz told EFE that the explosion took place around 7.45 a.m. when Yama Siawash was leaving home for work.
“Siawash is among the three civilians martyred,” Faramarz said.
“The incident is currently under investigation for further details,” he said.
The former journalist was currently working at the central bank of Afghanistan.
Siawash was a prominent political affairs anchor with Tolo News.
The killing has attracted widespread condemnations on social networks.
It is the latest in a series of targeted attacks and killings, mostly of activists or members of the security forces, in Kabul.
The government blames the Taliban for such attacks, but the insurgent group has rejected the allegations.
Media watchdogs consider Afghanistan as one of the deadliest countries for journalists, ranking 122 out of 180 in Reporters Without Borders 2020 world press freedom rankings.
In 2018, the deadliest year for the Afghan press, 20 journalists and media workers died, and another 20 were wounded while performing their duties.
The explosion comes days after a deadly attack on Kabul University, in which 22 people were killed and 27 wounded on Monday.
The attack in the center of Kabul comes at a sensitive time when representatives of the Taliban and the government have been holding peace talks in the Qatari capital of Doha since early September to end two decades of war in the country. EFE-EPA
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