Suicide bombers storm Afghan state broadcaster

[Devil Soul]

Suicide bombers storm Afghan state broadcaster
By AFP
Published: May 17, 2017
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Afghan security forces arrive at the site of an attack in Jalalabad city, eastern Afghanistan, on Wednesday. PHOTO: REUTERS

JALALABAD: Suicide bombers stormed the national television station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, triggering gunfights and explosions as journalists remained trapped inside the building, officials and eyewitnesses said.

At least two people were killed and 14 others wounded in the ongoing assault, which underscores the growing dangers faced by media workers in Afghanistan. No insurgent group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid in Nangarhar province, a hotbed of Islamic State militants, where the US military dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb last month in an unprecedented attack.

Bomb attack hits US base in eastern Afghanistan

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“Four attackers entered the RTA [Radio Television Afghanistan] building this morning. Two blew themselves up and two others are still resisting,” government spokesperson Attaullah Khogyani told AFP. He had earlier said there were three attackers. “At least two civilians have been killed and 14 others wounded so far,” Kohgyani said, with a health worker telling AFP that many of those brought to hospital suffered gunshot wounds.

An RTA photographer said he fled the building as soon as the gunfight erupted, but many of his colleagues were still stuck inside.
Islamic State insurgents are active in Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital.
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#BREAKING - shooting ongoing in RTA TV station compound in Jalalabad but security forces on scene, TOLOnews' Ziar Yaad reports #Afghanistan


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#RTA employee says at least 40 people work in the compound daily. Many have managed to escape but some trapped in the building #Afghanistan

The US military last month dropped the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb – dubbed the “Mother Of All Bombs” – on IS positions in Nangarhar, killing dozens of militants. The bombing triggered global shock waves, with some condemning the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that is not considered as big a threat as the resurgent Taliban.



According to the US Forces-Afghanistan, defections and recent battlefield losses have reduced the local IS presence from a peak of as many as 3,000 fighters to a maximum of 800. The Pentagon has reportedly asked the White House to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan to break the deadlocked fight against the Taliban. US troops in Afghanistan number about 8,400 today, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, who also mainly serve in an advisory capacity – a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago.

Chaman border attack: 50 Afghan soldiers killed, 100 injured in retaliatory fire, says IG FC

Wednesday’s attack marks the latest militant assault on an Afghan media organisation. Afghanistan suffered its deadliest year on record for journalists in 2016, according to the Afghan Journalists’ Safety Committee [AJSC], adding that the country is the second most dangerous for reporters in the world after Syria. As least 13 journalists were killed last year, AJSC said, claiming that the Taliban was behind at least ten of the deaths.

In January last year, seven employees of popular TV channel Tolo, which is often critical of the insurgents, were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul in what the militant group said was revenge for “spreading propaganda” against them. It was the first major attack on an Afghan media organisation since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001 and spotlighted the dangers faced by journalists as the security situation worsens.

Dan Coats, the head of US intelligence agencies, warned last week that the security situation “will also almost certainly deteriorate through 2018, even with a modest increase in the military assistance by the US”. US-led forces have been fighting in Afghanistan for almost 16 years, making it America’s longest war.

 

[GlobalVillageSpace]

Bombers storm Afghan TV station: More troubles in the path of peace
Global Village Space |

News Analysis |

Several gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers, which carried AK-47s, entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gunbattle with security forces.Two of them detonated their vests, while at least one – possibly two – remained to fight, said the police.

Though no group has, thus far, claimed the responsibility for the attack but given that the attack took place in the capital of Nangarhar, Islamic State’s complicity cannot be ruled out.

According to Al Jazeera, three attackers and many other people have been killed in the raid. The Al Jazeera correspondent further went on to report that 16 people, including media personnel, have been wounded in the attack.

Read more: More troops in Afghanistan: A recap of the Vietnam war?

Though no group has, thus far, claimed the responsibility for the attack but given that the attack took place in the capital of Nangarhar, Islamic State’s complicity cannot be ruled out. It is noteworthy that the US employed the GBU 43 B bomb in the very province against the K faction of the IS last month.

Yet another brazen attack comes on the heels of Taliban’s increasing dominance, which is evident by their control of 58% Afghan territory. The US intelligence brass had also feared that Afghanistan would be in for more trouble in 2017.

Last Thursday, the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was presented with a comprehensive Worldwide Threat Assessment Report. The Director of National Intelligence, Daniel Ray Coats, in his statement, expressed his apprehensions about the war in Afghanistan. He predicted a worsening security profile and the increase in the resurgence of the Taliban.

“The overall situation in Afghanistan will very likely continue to deteriorate, even if international support is sustained. Endemic state weaknesses, the government’s political fragility, deficiencies of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).”
– Daniel R Coats

Read more: Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US Joins hands to fight Daesh in the region

Likely effect on US Strategy
The US is all set to pay heed to the demands of General Nicholson, the commander of the US forces in Afghanistan. He asked for an addition of more troops to the current 8,400. The new Pentagon-led strategy is based on inducting 5,000 more troops and ramping up airstrikes. The news making rounds were substantiated by the national security adviser, Gen McMaster, in a briefing at the White House last week.

Read full article:
Bombers storm Afghan TV station: More troubles in the path of peace

 

[Hindustani78]

10 killed after gunmen attack state TV station in Afghanistan
AP
Kabul, May 17, 2017 13:22 IST
Updated: May 17, 2017 20:40 IST

Afghan security forces arrive at the site of an attack in Jalalabad city, eastern Afghanistan on May 17, 2017. | Photo Credit: Reuters

http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...tv-station-in-afghanistan/article18472910.ece

Gunmen stormed the local headquarters of Afghanistan’s State media in the eastern Nangarhar province on Wednesday, setting off clashes that killed 10 people, officials said.

Inamullah Miakhial, a spokesman for the provincial hospital in Nangarhar, said four State TV employees and two police officers were among those killed, and that 18 other people were wounded.

Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said four attackers were killed in the assault, which began with an explosion, followed by a gunbattle with Afghan security forces. The State media building is close to the Governor’s compound and a police station. Video footage from Jalalabad showed hundreds of Afghan security forces fanning out across the city, where shops were closed. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. Both the Taliban and an IS affiliate are active in Nangarhar, a mountainous province that borders Pakistan.

Separate blasts
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, three civilians were killed in separate bomb blasts, according to officials. No one immediately claimed either attack.

Qais Qadri, spokesman for the Governor of eastern Kapisa province, said two civilians were killed and two others were wounded in a bomb blast late on Tuesday in the Nijrab district.

Samim Khpolwak, spokesman for the Governor of the southern Kandahar province, said a civilian was killed and 10 people were wounded, including three policemen, in a double bombing in the provincial capital. No one immediately claimed either attack. The Taliban have stepped up their attacks since announcing their spring offensive last month.

 

[The Eagle]

Afghanistan: 102 militants killed after TV station raid


Militants slain in ongoing counter-terrorism operations in 18 provinces, including eastern Nangarhar, site of raid

home > world, asia - pacific 18.05.2017

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan

One day after a deadly attack on state-run TV by Daesh militants, Afghan security forces claim to have killed 102 militants, including 15 pro-Daesh militants, across the country in the past 24 hours.

Brig. Sher Agha, spokesman for the Afghan National Army’s (ANA) 201-Sailab Corps, told Anadolu Agency that 15 pro-Daesh militants were killed in cleansing operations in the Nangarhar province’s Chaparhar district.

Separately, the Defense Ministry said Thursday that 87 armed rebels have been killed and 27 wounded in ongoing counter-terrorism operations in 18 out of the country’s 34 provinces.

Ten people, including four assailants, were killed Wednesday in a gun-and-bomb attack on the regional headquarters of state-run Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) in the eastern city of Jalalabad, Nangarhar’s capital. The RTA offices are located in the heart of the city, close to the headquarters of the provincial government and the main market.

Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement. Nangarhar has been marred by a pro-Daesh insurgency, with strongholds of the terror group's militants said to be in the southern Achin, Kot, and Bati Kot districts near the border with Pakistan.

Wednesday’s attack is the fifth major attack claimed by Daesh in the last seven months in Afghanistan. On May 3, Daesh said it carried out a suicide attack in the capital Kabul that killed eight civilians. Other attacks include the Sardar Mohammad Dawood Khan Hospital incident in March that left up to 50 people dead, a suicide attack on the Supreme Court in February that claimed 22 lives, and twin-suicide attacks on Shia protesters last year that killed 80 people.

 

[Hindustani78]

A general view shows the Shamshad TV building after an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: AP

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/gunmen-storm-tv-station-in-kabul/article19996757.ece

Kabul, November 07, 2017 13:01 IST
Updated: November 07, 2017 15:24 IST

Islamic State group claims responsibility for the deadly attack

Gunmen disguised as policemen stormed a television station in Kabul on Tuesday, killing at least two people and wounding several others in the latest deadly attack on Afghan journalists.

The assault, claimed by the Islamic State group, lasted about three hours before Afghan special forces overpowered the attackers armed with guns and grenades and freed staff trapped inside the building.

"The attack has ended. According to the commander of the special forces all the staff who were inside the building have been rescued," Shamshad TV announced as it went back on the air in an act of defiance just moments later.

"This is an attack on freedom of media but they cannot silence us," Shamshad news director Abid Ehsas told rival Tolo News at a hospital in the Afghan capital where some of his wounded colleagues are being treated.

The station reported that one attacker blew himself up at the gate. Another attacker went inside and shot at staff before going up to the roof to fire on security forces.

Special forces troops had blasted their way through a wall of the compound to enter the premises of the Pashto-language broadcaster.

"I was in my office when gunmen wearing police uniforms attacked the building," Ehsas said.

"They killed one of our guards and entered the building and started firing. Most of us were able to flee but some were wounded and some jumped out of the windows."

He said the station had not received any threats before the attack.

Gunshots could be heard inside the building every few minutes during the assault as more and more security forces and emergency services swarmed the area.

At least one employee told AFP he had seen three attackers entering the building on security cameras.

"They first shot the guard and then entered the building. They started throwing grenades and firing," Shamshad TV reporter Faisal Zaland, who escaped through a back door, told AFP.

Interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said two guards had been killed and five people wounded -- a Shamshad employee and four firefighters.

Taliban not involved
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released by their Amaq propaganda agency. The Taliban had earlier released a Twitter statement denying involvement.

Pashto is one of the official languages in Afghanistan and is spoken mainly in the south where the Taliban have a large presence.

Kabul has been rocked by a series of deadly attacks in recent weeks as the Taliban and Islamic State step up offensives against security installations and mosques.

The attack spotlighted the dangers faced by media workers in Afghanistan as security worsens. Violence against Afghan journalists surged in the first half of 2017, a media watchdog said in July.

Last year the country suffered its deadliest year on record for journalists, according to the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, with at least 13 media workers killed -- 10 by the Taliban. That made it the second most dangerous place for reporters in the world after Syria.