Afghanistan deemed one of the most dangerous places in the world for a journalist, once again shot to headlines after a news reporter from the locally-owned TOLO News media group was beaten up allegedly by Taliban fighters.
Tolo News reporter Ziar Yaad took to Twitter on Thursday to reveal that he was covering a story on poverty and unemployment in a Kabul neighbourhood when Taliban fighters barged in and beat him and his crew. He said that their cameras, phones and equipment were taken away by their attackers.
"I was beaten by the Taliban in Kabul's New City while reporting. Cameras, technical equipment and my personal mobile phone have also been hijacked. Some people have spread the news of my death which is false. The Taliban got out of an armoured Land Cruiser and hit me at gunpoint," Yaad said on Twitter.
Before the tweet from Yaad's unverified account surfaced, there were speculations that the Afghan journalist may have been killed by the Taliban in Kabul. However, multiple tweets from Yaad's handle stated that he was beaten up by the Taliban but was safe.
Earlier in In July, the Taliban had murdered Pulitzer-winning, Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui after he got left behind during a hasty military retreat while covering the conflict between Afghan government forces and the Taliban, a Reuters investigation found.
Siddiqui was working for Reuters and was deputed in Kandahar merely a week before his death. He was covering the situation in the region after the US forces pulled out of Afghanistan recently.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 55 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan since 1992. CPJ has confirmed two journalist deaths in Afghanistan this year. In addition to Siddiqui, Mina Khairi of Afghanistan's Ariana News TV was killed in June.
Via Firstpost World Latest News https://ift.tt/2Nairz4
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