At least 25 people have been killed and dozens more injured in two ISIS bombs in Afghanistan after journalists who raced to cover the first explosion were hit by a second blast.
A photographer with the news agency AFP and five local journalists were among those killed after a man pretending to be a reporter carried out a suicide attack in the capital Kabul.
They had been part of a media group covering an earlier blast, carried out by another suicide bomber on a motorbike.
The twin explosions took place in the central Shash Darak area, which is home to the NATO headquarters and a number of embassies. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the atrocity, which killed at least 25 and left 45 injured.
Pictures from the scene show a line of journalists gathered at the scene and the gruesome aftermath of the twin blasts.
Agence France-Presse reported that the news agency’s chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, was among those killed.
AFP said Marai died in a blast that was targeting a group of journalists who had rushed to the scene of the earlier suicide attack in the capital.
Sediqullah Tawhidi, an official from the Afghan Journalist Safety Committee, said a cameraman from the local Tolo TV also was killed.
Police officer Jan Agha said the journalists died in the second blast, which also wounded two police officers.
The second was meant to hit those rushing to the scene of the attack to help the victims of the first blast.
Kabul chief of police Dawood Amin said the area of Kabul that was targeted, which includes many foreign offices, was quickly sealed off.
Mohammad Mousa Zahir, director of Wazir Akbarkhan Hospital, said several people who were injured in the blasts were being treated at the hospital.
The local ISIS affiliate and the more firmly established Taliban carry out regular attacks around the country, with the Taliban usually targeting the government and security forces and ISIS targeting the Shiite minority.
Large-scale attacks by the two militant groups have also hit the Afghan capital. Both groups want to establish strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan.
UM– USEKE.RW
