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Daesh claims responsibility for killing 3 female TV staffers
Islamic State (Daesh) has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack that killed three media workers in Jalalabad, in Nangarhar, on Tuesday evening.
According to SITE Intelligence group, Daesh said on Tuesday night its fighters had targeted the three female employees of Enikas TV.
However, Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi says although Daesh has claimed responsibility for the attack, the claims need to be investigated.
He says a team has been sent from Kabul to Nangarhar to find out which group was behind the killings
Afghan officials said on Tuesday night that one gunman, with links to the Taliban, had been arrested.
The three women, aged between 18 and 20, were gunned down while on their way home from work.
Reports also indicate a fourth woman was critically injured in the attack.
Zalmai Latifi, head of Enikas TV, said the three women were recent high school graduates who worked in the station’s dubbing department.
Provincial police chief Juma Gul Hemat said that the suspected lead attacker had been arrested and that he was connected to the Taliban.
However, the Taliban denied the group was involved in the attack.
This comes after Malalai Maiwand, a female journalist at Enikas TV was killed in December last year along with her driver.
According to Latifi, the TV channel had employed 10 women – of which four had now been killed.
This comes amid a wave of attacks against journalists, media workers, civil society activists and government officials.
The Taliban have said they are not responsible but Afghan officials and some foreign powers have blamed the attacks largely on the group.
“The targeted killing of journalists could cause a state of fear in the journalistic community, and this could lead to self-censorship, abandonment of media activities, and even leaving the country,” said Mujib Khalwatgar, head of Afghan media advocacy group Nai recently.
The US Embassy in Kabul on Tuesday night called the killings “devastating news,” and said these “attacks are meant to intimidate; they are intended to make reporters cower; the culprits hope to stifle freedom of speech in a nation where the media has flourished during the past 20 years. This cannot be tolerated.”
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More needs to be done to boost local industry, says Kabir
The deputy prime minister for policy, Mawlavi Abdul Kabir, met with Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, at Sapidar Palace on Tuesday and discussed issues around the quality of domestic products and the need to grow and develop the industrial sector.
Azizi said that good trade relations with neighboring countries has resulted in stable prices of goods in the country.
He said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry works closely with the private sector. As a result, the private sector functions in a befitting manner and the Islamic Emirate has provided necessary facilities.
Azizi said that based on the Islamic Emirate’s good economic policies, there has been a significant development in the import/export sector in the country.
Kabir in turn voiced appreciation for efforts by the leadership of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and said: “The unprecedented efforts of the IEA’s administrations and the stability of the Afghan currency caused the price of food ingredients to remain in the right state and our people also be able to buy essential materials.”
He emphasized the need to work for a balance in trade with neighboring countries, and said more efforts were needed to improve the quality of domestic products and to grow the sector.
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Russia and Tajikistan hold joint military drills along Afghanistan border
Russia and Tajikistan conducted a joint four-day military exercise along the border with Afghanistan in order to be prepared for any “potential threats”, Tajik media reported this week.
Russian military personnel from the 201st military base in Tajikistan participated in this exercise. Reports stated military personnel practiced various combat tactics, especially tactics to counter terrorist groups that illegally enter Tajikistan.
This comes amid repeated concerns expressed by Afghanistan’s neighbors about what they claim are terrorist threats originating from Afghanistan.
The Islamic Emirate has not yet commented on the drills but has repeatedly denied the presence of terrorist groups in the country. The IEA has also continuously said no militant group will be allowed to threaten another country from Afghanistan.
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Media Violation Commission bans two TV channels
The Media Violations Commission has ordered Noor and Barya TV channels to stop broadcasting and to appear in court, state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported on Tuesday.
ّIt is said that the decision against the channels was taken for “not observing the principles of journalism.”
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