Khyber Union of Journalists has strongly condemned the suicide attack in Peshawar that killed two journalists among 36 other people and injured over hundred including five media persons.
A minor blast took place at a local restaurant in the Khyber Super Market in the military cantonment area at 11:45pm on the night between Saturday and Sunday. Hearing the bang, the people, media persons and police rushed to the spot, when a suicide bomber on a motorbike struck causing huge losses. Located just next to the army flats, the area is dominated by newspaper organisations.
The journalists, who work in the nearby offices and reside there as well, rushed to the spot and two among them lost their lives, while five others injured.
The deceased included Asfandyar Khan, who worked with different media organisations and had recently joined Akhbar-e-Khyber, and Shafiullah, a young graduate, who had recently joined The News International as a trainee reporter.
The injured were Safiullah Mehsud, bureau chief Dunya News, Barakatullah Marwat, sub-editor, The News International, Mohammad Tufail of The News, Hashim Ali of Khyber News and Sheheryar and Riaz of Akhbar-e-Khyber. The injured were, however, in stable condition after receiving first aid.
President Khyber Union of Journalists, (KhUj) Arshad Aziz Malik and General Secretary Yousaf Ali strongly condemned the incident and urged the government to take steps for protection of the media people.
They said that this was the second incident in the past one month exactly at the same area where journalists were targeted. On May 10, they said, Nasrullah Afridi was attacked in his own car at the same location. They informed that some of the newspaper and television offices had received threats of attack and the employees working there have been asking their management repeatedly to shift the offices from the area but to no avail.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.