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.”