Kabul: Afghan journalists have boycotted coverage of news related to the Taliban after an attack in a Kabul hotel, on Thursday, which left nine persons dead. The call for action came after news that Sardar Ahmad, senior reporter in AFP’s Kabul bureau had been shot dead, alongside his wife and two children.
Ahmad’s youngest son, a toddler, was the only member of the family to survive the attack.
The Taliban took responsibility for the deadly attack on the hotel, claiming on its website that it was a methodical operation to take the lives of “foreign invaders and puppets of high-ranking officials.â€
A group calling themselves Afghan Journalist family, consisting of more than 50 journalists vowed to collectively boycott coverage of news related to the Taliban for 15 days, “refraining from broadcasting any information that could further the Taliban’s claimed purpose of terrorâ€.
The statement said, “The Taliban carry out such attacks, which can never be justified, solely for the purposes of news coverage and projecting terror among Afghan citizensâ€. It further went on to ask the Taliban for an explanation of how they could justify the killing of children.
The killings follow a string of Taliban attacks intended to cause problems in the run up to the presidential and provincial elections on April 5.Â