10 Afghan media workers killed in half year

Ten Afghan journalists and media workers have been killed in the first half of the year amid increasing violence in the militancy-hit country, an official of Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC), an independent media safety group protecting the reporters' rights, said on Tuesday.

"A total of 10 reporters and media workers have been killed from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2017, and those killed have either been directly targeted by terrorist groups or lost their lives as a result of terrorist attacks," Najib Sharifi, head of AJSC, told a press conference here.

In one attack, four Afghan journalists and media workers were killed after a massive truck bombing struck near the German Embassy in Kabul on May 31, the official added.

According to Sharifi, four journalists from government-run Radio and Television of Afghanistan (RTA) were killed after Islamic State (IS) militant group attacked RTA office in eastern Nangarhar province also in May.

Sharifi also expressed AJSC's concern over continuation and expansion of violence and threats to Afghan journalists posed by terrorist groups, particularly Taliban and IS affiliates.

In March, two employees of parliament TV were killed after Taliban launched a double suicide bombing on a parliament sub-office in western Kabul.

The AJSC has registered 73 cases of violence against reporters, including killing, beating, inflicting injury, intimidation and detention of journalists over the period.

"The data shows a 35 percent increase in violence against Afghan journalists in the first half of 2017 in comparison with same period last year in which 35 similar cases had been recorded by AJSC," he said.

Due to increased insecurity, Sharifi said no female journalist has been working in 10 of the country's 34 provinces.

He also called on the government to protect the life and properties of journalists and urged the militants not to target the reporters whenever they travel to cover the events.