At least seven people were killed and more than 20 others, including pedestrians, were injured.
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The Taliban took responsibility for Wednesday’s bombing – which hit the bus as it was passing near the Russian Embassy – and declared Tolo TV a “spy agency”.
Tolo TV confirmed in a series of tweets that seven of its staff members had been killed.
The bomber targeted a vehicle owned by a company that works with Tolo News, Afghanistan’s first 24-hour news channel, said Kabul Police Chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi. Tolo TV, another MOBY channel is wildly popular and broadcasts, among other commercial programming, Afghan Star. 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”. “We offer our deepest condolences to the victims of the attacks and to their families”.
Afghan Interior Ministry spokesperson Sediq Seddiqi said the attack remained under investigation, Voice of America reported Thursday.
Observers have speculated that the attacks near foreign missions could also be aimed at destabilising attempts to revive peace talks with the Taliban.
The Taliban, who are fighting to topple the Western-backed government in Kabul and reimpose strict Islamic law, said they carried out the attack and issued another grim warning.
Under its late leader Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda long called the mountainous Asian nation its home, and it continues to have a presence there, as illustrated by last fall’s joint U.S.-Afghan dismantling of training sites in southern Afghanistan.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the van was under Taliban surveillance and called Tolo News an “important tool of warfare of America and the crusaders” in Afghanistan.
Also, Wednesday’s attack comes just two days after a second round of four-country negotiations involving Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States in Kabul.
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“Strong and independent journalism, free from intimidation and fear of criminal violence, is essential for a healthy democracy and decent society”, said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Acting-Head of UNAMA, in a statement.
