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ISIS Attack Afghan TV Station

Afghan soldiers capture a suspect after Wednesday's attack on a TV station in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Afghan soldiers capture a suspect after Wednesday's attack on a TV station in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA

17 May 2017
At least 6 people have been killed in a terrorist attack, which took place in a national television and radio station in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Government officials report six dead and at least 16 wounded in terrorist attack at TV station in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan.

The raid on the Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) state broadcaster was carried out by four attackers, one of whom detonated a suicide bomb at the entrance to the compound, said Gulab Mangal, governor of Nangarhar.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack that comes over a week after the leader of ISIL in Afghanistan was killed in a US drone attack. ISIL has established a stronghold in Nangarhar, of which Jalalabad is capital, where it fights both the Taliban and Afghan government forces.

Wednesday's attack highlights the growing dangers faced by news media workers in Afghanistan, as the security situation worsens.

The country 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.

Dan Coats, head of US intelligence agencies, said last week that the security and political situation in Afghanistan "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 the the longest war the US has been involved in.

 

To read more, visit:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/afghanistan-gunmen-attack-jalalabad-tv-station-170517064544067.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/17/asia/afghanistan-jalalabad-attack/index.html

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