An Afghan journalist who has long received death threats was seriously wounded in a bombing in the country’s south, while in the western province of Farah, the Taliban stormed an army checkpoint and killed 10 soldiers, officials said on Wednesday.
Also in Farah, a local official was gunned down outside his home on Wednesday, a councilman said.
The attacks were the latest violence in war-torn Afghanistan even as the Taliban and the US concluded another round of negotiations held in Qatar, with both sides reporting progress in the talks.
Radio and TV journalist Nesar Ahmad Ahmadi was wounded when a sticky bomb attached to his car exploded as he was heading to work in Helmand province.
Omar Zwak, the governor’s spokesman, said the attack happened on Tuesday in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.
Ahmadi had a leg wound and was transferred to Kabul for further treatment, the spokesman said.
He runs the Sabahoon radio station and is also a reporter for Sabahoon TV in Helmand.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Helmand, the Taliban heartland.
In January, the Afghan Journalist Safety Committee said in its annual report that it had recorded a total of 121 cases of violence against journalists and media workers in 2018.
It also said 17 journalists and media workers were killed last year, once again placing Afghanistan as the world’s most dangerous country for journalists.
The International Federation of Journalists and its Afghan affiliate condemned the attack on Ahmadi in Helmand and called for an immediate investigation.
