At Least Four Killed in Suicide Attack in Kabul

TEHRAN (defapress) – At least four people have been killed and six wounded in a blast in Kabul at the office of the Afghan Voice news agency, the health ministry said.

News ID: 67764

Date: 28 December 2017 - 12:16

Local media reported an explosion early on Thursday.

1TV News, quoting an interior ministry spokesman, said a suicide bomber was likely to have been behind the attack.

Afghan Journalists Safety Committee condemned the attack "in the strongest terms possible", writing on Twitter.

The group said it was heading to the scene to assist the aid efforts, Al Jazeera reported.

Afghan Journalists Safety Committee recently reported a surge in attacks against journalists, with at least 73 cases recorded in 2017, an increase of 35 percent compared with 2016.

This makes Afghanistan one of the most dangerous countries for reporters in the world.

In May, Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) claimed an attack targeting an Afghan state television building in Jalalabad that killed six people.

In November, at least one security guard was killed as Daesh terrorists stormed Shamshad TV, a private television station.

Earlier, in January 2016, after threats from the Taliban, a minibus carrying TOLOnews employees was bombed, killing seven people during the evening rush hour.

More broadly, the Afghan capital has come under attack several times in 2017.

On March 8, more than 30 people were killed when gunmen dressed in white lab coats stormed a hospital in the center of the city. Daesh claimed responsibility for that attack, but officials considered other groups could have been responsible.

On May 31, a truck bomb exploded near the diplomatic district, killing more than 150 people. It remains unclear who was behind the assault.

On October 21, Daesh claimed responsibility for killing at least 39 people at a Shiite mosque in Kabul.