9 journalists killed in Afghanistan: This is 'a reminder of the extreme dangers to media workers'

One of the attackers pretended to be a journalist, a police spokesperson said.

April 30, 2018, 5:59 PM

Nine journalists were killed in dual blasts in Kabul, Afghanistan, this morning.

A Kabul police spokesman said the second suicide bomber was among the crowd of reporters who were rushing to the scene of the first blast when another device was detonated, according to The Associated Press.

Police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai said the second attacker was pretending to be a member of the media, the AP reported.

Security forces run from the site of a suicide attack after the second explosion in Kabul, April 30, 2018. A coordinated double suicide bombing hit central Kabul.
Massoud Hossaini/AP Images

The health ministry in Afghanistan released the names and affiliations of the nine journalists who were killed:

Shah Marai, a longtime photographer for Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Ebadullah Hananzai, from Radio Free Europe

Sabawoon Kakar, from Radio Free Europe

Journalists Ebadullah Hananzai and Sabawoon Kakar are pictured in photos released by Radio Free Europe after they were killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 30, 2018.
@RFERL/Twitter

Yar Mohammad Tokhi, a Tolonews cameraman

Ghazi Rasooli, a 1TV reporter

Nowrooz Rajabj, a 1TV cameraman

1TV cameraman Nowrooz Rajabj is pictured in an image released on Twitter by 1TV after he was killed in an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan on April 30, 2018.
1TVNewsAF/Twitter

Saleem Talash, a Mashal TV reporter

Mahram Durani, a journalist from Shamsad TV

Ali Salimi, a Mashal TV cameraman.

ISIS has since claimed responsibility for the Kabul attacks, which left at least 25 people dead and 45 others injured.

The regional program director of the Committee to Protect Journalists released a statement on the bombing, calling it "a reminder of the extreme dangers to media workers" in Afghanistan.

Steven Butler, CPJ's Asia program coordinator said the attack shows "the extreme dangers to media workers in that country and of the extremely brutal tactics used there by enemies of the free press."

A man who rose through the ranks

AFP photographer Shah Marai is pictured in Kabul, Afghanistan in an undated photo released by Agence France-Presse.
AFP via AP

Marai, 41, was one of the most prominent journalists to be killed. He is survived by six children, the youngest of which is a 15-day-old daughter.

An essay that he wrote for the AFP in 2016 was re-released today.

In it, he describes his career at the AFP, which started as a fixer and driver in 1996. He moved up the ranks and was ultimately named as the agency's chief photographer in Kabul.

He wrote that while there had been good periods, "there is no more hope."

"Every morning as I go to the office and every evening when I return home, all I think of are cars that can be booby-trapped, or of suicide bombers coming out of a crowd. I can’t take the risk," he wrote.

Friends and relatives of Agence France Presse (AFP) Afghanistan Chief Photographer Shah Marai Faizi gather at his burial in Gul Dara, Kabul, April 30, 2018, after his death in the second of two bombings that occurred in the Afghan capital.
Andrew Quilty/AFP/Getty Images

"I have never felt life to have so little prospects and I don’t see a way out. It’s a time of anxiety," he continued.

The New York Times reported that Marai's family was predisposed to blindness and he had three blind brothers and two blind children.

AFP chairman Fabrice Fries issued a statement offering condolences to Marai's family and the families of the others killed in the attack.

“This tragedy reminds us of the danger that our teams continually face on the ground and the essential role journalists play for democracy. Journalists were targeted by this attack,” Fries said.

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