On March 9, 2023, a bomb exploded during a journalist award ceremony in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, killing at least one person and injuring eight others, including three children, according to officials.
According to Mohammad Asif Waziri, a local police official, the incident occurred at 11 a.m. at the Tabian Farhang center in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, as journalists gathered for the Afghan Voice Agency’s award ceremony.
“At least eight persons were injured, including five journalists and three children, and one guard was killed,” Balkh police spokesperson Mohammed Asif Waziri told reporters as security personnel sealed off the area.
A reporter for Aryana News television station, Najeeb Faryad, said he felt like something hit him in the back, followed by a deafening sound before he fell to the ground.
A New Occurrence?
Dozens of Afghan journalists have been killed in attacks in the past few years, but Saturday’s blast was the first such incident since the Taliban seized control of the nation in 2021, following the withdrawal of US forces.
About 60 percent of media professionals have already left the country since 2021, according to Reporters Without Borders data. This attack will only further aggravate the media situation in Afghanistan, as Hafizullah Barakai, the Head of the Afghanistan Journalists’ Union, informed Arab News.
“This will create a negative environment for media persons, and it will definitely affect the journalists’ work and lives,” Barakai said.
“We see such violence against journalists going on for the past few years across Afghanistan. I urge the authorities to address journalists’ safety.”
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came two days after a suicide bomber killed Balkh governor Mohammed Dawood Muzamil.
Some suspect that the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group (ISIS) — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province — is a key rival of the ruling Taliban, so they may have been responsible for this heinous act.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan condemned the attack as “despicable.”
“Violence must stop. Afghan reporters show immense courage and must be protected,” the U.N. mission said on Twitter.
Many hope for good times to roll in and for life to go back to normalcy after this tragic event.