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A suicide attack that killed nine Afghan journalists as they gathered to cover a bomb explosion in the capital Kabul made Monday the deadliest day for the country's media since a US-led campaign ousted the Taliban in 2001.
Key points:
- The first blast targeted area near important intelligence buildings and embassies, killing four
- Police and reporters covering the blast were caught during the second explosion
- A third attack in Kandahar has killed 11 children and injured 16 other people
Globally, it was the worst attack on journalists in a single incident since 31 reporters and photographers were killed in a massacre in the southern Philippines in 2009.
AFP's chief Kabul photographer Shah Marai and the other eight reporters were among a group of journalists caught in a second explosion as they were reporting on the initial blast.
Four policemen were also among those killed.
Radio Free Europe confirmed that three of their journalists — Abadullah Hananzai, Maharram Durrani and Sabawoon Kakar — were killed in the second blast.
Local broadcaster TOLO News said they lost cameraman Yar Mohammad Tokhi in the explosion, while Afghanistan's 1TV confirmed that journalist Ghazi Rasooli and cameraman Nowroz Ali Rajabi were also among the dead.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Afghan affiliate of the militant group, known as Khorasan Province, posted an urgent statement on an IS-affiliate website saying two of its martyrdom seekers carried out the double bombing targeting the headquarters of the "renegade" Afghan intelligence services in Kabul.
It says the first martyrdom seeker detonated his explosive vest, forcing members of the intelligence service to head to the area of the explosion.
The statement says the second martyrdom seeker detonated his explosive vest after that.
The statement did not say that journalists were specifically targeted but exaggerated the attacks' death toll.
Afghan President Asharf Ghani strongly condemned the attacks.
A statement released form the presidential palace said that attacks targeting innocent civilians, worshippers inside the mosques, national and democratic processes, reporters and freedom of speech are all war crimes.
Bomber 'Pretended to be a reporter'
As well as killing 25, at least 45 people were wounded in the Kabul attack, according to spokesman from Kabul police Hashmat Stanekzai.
Mr Stanekzai said the first suicide bomber was on a motor bike.
The second explosion was meant to hit those rushing to the scene of the attack to help the victims of the first blast.
He said the second attacker was on foot, in a crowd of reporters that had rushed to the scene of the first attack.
Sokesman for the Interior Ministry Najib Danish said the suicide bomber appeared to have posed as a media worker and blew himself up where reporters and rescue workers had gathered.
"We know that a suicide bomber pretended to be a reporter. He showed his press card and stood among journalists before blowing himself up," Mr Danish told Reuters.
Monday's first explosion in the Shash Darak area, close to buildings of the NDS intelligence service, was followed by one outside the ministry of urban development and housing, just as people were entering the government office.
Four people were killed and five injured in the first explosion, said Najib Danish, a spokesman for the interior ministry, adding that authorities had despatched ambulances to the incident sites.
Soon after, a second explosion took place beside journalists who had gathered to cover the first blast, killing or wounding a number of photographers and cameraman, Reuters witnesses said.
Kabul chief of police Dawood Amin said the area of Kabul that was targeted, which includes many foreign offices, was quickly sealed off.
Mohammad Mousa Zahir, director of Wazir Akbarkhan Hospital, said several people suffering injuries from the blasts were being treated at the hospital.
A Reuters photographer was also hurt by flying shrapnel and two police officers were wounded, according to local police.
Taliban militants, fighting to restore their version of strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, announced their usual spring offensive last week and there has been heavy fighting in several areas of the country since.
Hundreds of people have been killed and wounded in a series of high-profile attacks in Kabul since the beginning of the year, despite President Ashraf Ghani's offer in February for peace talks "without preconditions".
Separate attack kills 11 children in Kandahar
As the Afghan capital reeled from Monday's assault, a suicide car bombing a few hours later in the southern province of Kandahar killed 11 children and injured 16 people, a police spokesman said.
An Afghan official said a suicide bomber targeted a NATO convoy in the district of Daman but killed 11 children from a religious school located by the roadside from where the explosion occurred.
The children from the madrasa had gathered around the NATO convoy for fun when the bomber struck, said Abdul Rahim Ayubi, a politician from Kandahar.
The attacks came just a week after a blast at a voter registration centre killed 60 people, in the wake of warnings by security officials against the risk of increasing attacks ahead of parliamentary elections planned in October.
Romanian Defence Minister Mihai Fifor said eight Romanian troops with the "Carpathian Eagles" were among the wounded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Kandahar bombing, which also wounded five NATO soldiers.
General John Nicholson, commander of NATO's Resolute Support mission, said: "If the enemies of Afghanistan think their cowardly actions will deter the commitment of the brave Afghan forces and our Resolute Support advisers, or the call by the Afghan people for peace, they are sorely mistaken."
ABC/wires
Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, afghanistan, asia
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