Gunmen dressed as police officers stormed into a private television station in Kabul in Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing at least two people and injuring many, The Telegraph reported. The attack lasted about three hours and was claimed by the Islamic State group, but there was no official word confirming this.
Reports had quoted witnesses as saying they had seen attackers throw grenades and open fire as they entered the Shamshad TV headquarters.
Security forces freed around 100 people trapped inside the building. One attacker was killed in the gunfight that ensued.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Najib Danish said two guards were killed and five people – a Shamshad TV employee and four firefighters – were injured. Other reports said as many as 20 people were injured.
“The attack has ended,” Shamshad TV, a Pashto language broadcaster, announced as it went back on air. “According to the commander of the special forces, all staff inside the building have been rescued.”
“This is an attack on the freedom of media, but they cannot silence us,” Shamshad TV Director Abid Ehsas told rival Tolo News at a hospital in Kabul, where some of the wounded were being treated. “I was in my office when gunmen wearing police uniforms attacked the building. They killed one of our guards and entered the building and started firing.”
The Taliban, which has attacked several media personnel in the past few years, had denied involvement in the incident earlier in the day. In 2016, seven members of Afghanistan’s largest private television station, Tolo, were killed by a Taliban suicide bomber.
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