Local government officials said on Monday that Taliban militants killed the manager of an Afghan radio station in Kabul and kidnapped a journalist in southern Helmand province, reporting on a long list of communications media’s attacks on media workers.
The latest together. On Sunday, several gunmen carried out targeted assassinations in the capital. The gunmen killed Toofan Omar, a manager of Paktia Ghag radio station and an official of NAI, a rights organization supporting Afghan independent media.
“Omari was killed by an unidentified gunman… he was [a] liberal… we were targeted because of our independent work,” NAI Director Mujib Kelvatga ( Mujeeb Khelwatgar) said. Kabul officials suspected that Taliban militants launched the attack.
Last month, the NAI reported that at least 30 journalists and media workers were killed, injured or kidnapped by militant groups in Afghanistan this year.
In southern Helmand province, officials said Taliban militants arrested local journalist Nematullah Hemat at the home of Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, on Sunday.
“I don’t know where the Taliban took Hemat … We are really in a panic,” said Razwan Miakhel, director of Gharghasht TV, a private television channel hired by Hemat.
A Taliban spokesman told Reuters he had no information on journalists killed in Kabul or kidnapped in Helmand.
The Coalition of Afghan News Organizations sent a letter to the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the leaders of the House of Representatives, urging them to issue special immigrant visas to Afghan journalists and support personnel.
The Taliban occupied three northern cities over the weekend and threatened to occupy more cities. After Washington announced that it would end its military mission in the country at the end of this month, it will increase its offensive against Afghan government forces.
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