Observers have speculated that the attacks near foreign missions could also be aimed at destabilising attempts to revive peace talks with the Taliban.
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The bus was taking employees home from the company’s office in central Kabul when the attack took place, at around 5 p.m. local time. Aside from the attackers, 20 people were killed, including students and teachers. The statement explicitly listed both Tolo TV and its news channel rival 1TV as “military targets” for allegedly serving as “informational warfare tools of the American and Crusading forces”.
According to the statement signed by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, the terror organization was not attacking the media in general.
“Police are working to identify the victims of today’s attack, but there was no military convoy [in the area], they were all civilians”, Mr Sediqqi said on his Twitter page. The suicide vehicle bomb attack in Kabul rush hour traffic on Wednesday was condemned by governments, human rights groups and rival news organizations as an assault on press freedom.
Along with another popular privately-owned station, 1 TV, Tolo was threatened by the Taliban in October following the broadcast of reports on the insurgents’ activities in the northern city of Kunduz, which the Taliban held for three days from late September.
Tolo News is a 24-hour news channel in Afghanistan.
“You can not silence our voice”, said of the presenters on Tolo News shortly after Wednesday’s attack.
“Such brutal and cowardly attacks can never stop us serving our country, people and protecting democracy”, said Karim Amini, a reporter for the channel.
The Islamic Emirate wants to clarify that the attack on Tolo was not an attack on the media but on an intelligence network opposing our national unity and our religious and national values.
The Taliban have not formally shown reaction to the process however, with their unofficial websites and online media opposing the process.
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Delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States convened in the Afghan capital on Monday for a one-day meeting seeking a negotiated end to the 14-year Taliban insurgency.
