Suspected Taliban fighters killed an Afghan station manager in Kabul and kidnapped a journalist .., government officials said on Monday, reporting the newest during a long line of attacks targeting media workers.
Gunmen shot Toofan Omar, the station manager of Paktia Ghag radio and a politician for NAI, a rights group supporting independent media in Afghanistan, during a targeted killing within the capital on Sunday.
“Omari was killed by unidentified gunmen … he was [a] liberal man … we are being targeted for working independently,” said Mujeeb Khelwatgar, the top of NAI.
Officials in Kabul suspected Taliban fighters had administered the attack.
Last month, the NAI reported that a minimum of 30 journalists and media workers are killed, wounded or abducted by militant groups in Afghanistan this year.
In southern Helmand province, officials said Taliban fighters had seized an area journalist, Nematullah Hemat, from his range in Lashkar Gah, the capital , on Sunday.
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“There is simply absolutely no clue where the Taliban have taken Hemat … we are really during a state of panic,” said Razwan Miakhel, head of a personal channel , Gharghasht TV, where Hemat was employed.
A Taliban spokesperson told Reuters that he had no information on either the killing in Kabul or the abducted journalist in Helmand.
A coalition of Afghan news organisations have written to US President Joe Biden and leaders within the House of Representatives, urging them to grant special immigration visas to Afghan journalists and support staff.
The Taliban seized three northern cities over the weekend and were threatening to capture more, ramping up an offensive against Afghan government forces that followed Washington’s announcement that it might end its mission within the country by the top of the month.
