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28 March 2024

Kabul TV station stormed by gunmen

Photo: Reuters

Published
By Wam

Gunmen have attacked a television station in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing at least one person.

The BBC is reporting that three attackers stormed the Shamshad TV building after detonating explosives, police said. A guard and one of the attackers are said to have been killed and a security operation is still under way.

The exact number of casualties is not yet clear. Daesh has said that they were behind the attack, in a statement made on its news outlet.

A BBC reporter in the area said that gunfire could still be heard with the remaining attackers reported to still be resisting.

Shamshad TV, a privately owned establishment, quickly went off air after the attack began. Shamshad TV broadcasts a wide variety of programmes including news and current affairs in the Pashto language. It is one of the BBC's partner stations.

"Some of my colleagues were killed and injured. I managed to escape," Hashmat Istankzai, a reporter for the Pashto-language channel, told the BBC.

Afghanistan is one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists and media workers. In May, a BBC driver was among more than 150 people killed in a huge suicide bombing in the capital. Last year, seven members of staff from the private Tolo television station were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing in the capital.