KABUL – At least five people were killed and 21 others wounded in a terrorist attack against a local TV channel station in Kabul on Tuesday, according to local media reports.
The attackers threw grenades and fired guns as they entered the headquarters of Shamshad TV, a private Pashto language channel, in Chaman-e-Huzuri neighborhood, on Tuesday morning.
A newsmen who managed to escape in time revealed that the attackers were still inside the building with gunfire being heard.
The dead included a security guard, a female worker of the TV station and two attackers, the TOLONews reported.
The attackers, who were disguised in police uniform, took refuge in a building inside the facility and exchanged fire with Crisis Response Unit (CRU) forces, Special Operation, who arrived shortly after the attack.
The CRU also rescued scores of journalists and media workers during a three-hour gunfight.
Among those injured were several media workers and four personnel of fire department of Kabul police.
More than 100 employees were inside the building at the time of attack, according to police.
A spokesman for the chief of Kabul police Basir Mujahid said one of the attackers had been killed by Afghan forces as security personnel are trying to regain control of the building.
Shamshad TV quickly went off air after the armed assailants barged into the headquarter.
The so-called ‘Islamic State’ (IS) terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC), an independent media safety group, have strongly condemned the incident.
Media outlets and journalists frequently come under attack in the militancy-hit country as 10 Afghan journalists and media workers have been killed in the first half of the year, according to AJSC.
