French news agency AFP has confirmed that one of its photographers, Shah Marai, was among those killed in two back-to-back blasts in Kabul Monday morning.
The Afghan Ministry of Public Health said at least 21 people were killed and 40 wounded in the suicide attacks in one of Kabul’s high security neighborhoods. The Interior Ministry put the death toll at 25. Several sources said at least five journalists are among the dead.
Al Jazeera said one of their photographers was wounded in the blast.
The first suicide attack was carried out outside a building belonging to the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency. When rescue workers and journalists gathered at the site, a second blast ripped through the crowd, killing the AFP journalist among others. Afghan media quoted a Kabul police spokesman, Hashmat Istanikzai, as saying the second bomber, disguised as a journalist, caused most of the casualties.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
The Taliban launched their spring offensive, called Al Khandaq, last week in which they declared that their primary targets would be “American invaders and their intelligence agents” while their local supporters would be dealt with as secondary targets.
