(Kabul) An Afghan journalist was killed and four people injured in the explosion of a minibus near a Taliban-manned checkpoint in Kabul on Saturday, sources close to the victim said and from the local hospital.
The explosion took place in western Kabul in the Hazara Shiite minority neighborhood of Dasht-e-Barchi, around 1 p.m. GMT (8 a.m. ET). Photos showing a large flame escaping from a charred vehicle and black smoke quickly circulated on social media.
“Unfortunately, we lost another journalist,” tweeted the Afghan Journalists Center, explaining that Hamid Seighani, a reporter for private television Ariana TV, had died in the blast.
“I lost Hamid,” his wife, who is also a journalist, wrote on Facebook.
The explosion occurred near a Taliban-manned checkpoint, a witness said. “I was in my car and an explosion took place in the vehicle in front of us,” he said. Shots were then heard.
The local hospital said it took care of one deceased and four injured.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that one person was killed and two injured.
The attack at this point has not been claimed.
In early May, the Dasht-e-Barchi district of Kabul had already been hit by a bloody attack. A series of explosions had occurred in front of a school for girls.
More than 85 people, mostly high school girls, had been killed and more than 300 injured. A car bomb first exploded in front of the school and then two more bombs followed as the students rushed outside. IS is strongly suspected of having carried out this attack.
Since coming to power on August 15, the Taliban, who have made restoring security to the country their priority after decades of war, have faced a wave of attacks led by the Islamic State group.
Its local branch, the Islamic State-Khorasan (EI-K), rival and main opponent of the ruling Islamist movement, has targeted both the Taliban and the Afghan Shiite minority in recent weeks.
The national military hospital in the Afghan capital was targeted by an IS-K attack in which at least 19 people were killed and more than 50 injured.
On Friday, a mosque in the eastern Jalalabad region was hit by an unclaimed explosion that left three dead and 15 injured, according to a doctor at the local hospital.