Two blasts hit the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, killing at least 25 people, including at least eight journalists.
Photo: AFP
French news agency AFP chief photographer in Afghanistan, Shah Marai, was among the group of journalists caught in the second explosion as they were reporting on the initial blast.
The Islamic State group (IS) said it had carried out the attack.
In a series of tweets, AFP said the second blast had deliberately targeted the group of journalists.
#UPDATE Agence France-Presse's chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, has been killed.
— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 30, 2018
He died in a blast that was targeting a group of journalists who had rushed to the scene of a suicide attack in the Afghan capital pic.twitter.com/rOa4rg24x9
Eight journalists and four police officers were among the dead, interior minister spokesperson Najib Danish said.
So far, 45 people have been reported injured.
AFP reported that two journalists from 1TV, one from Tolo news, and one from Jahan TV were among the dead.
However, the identities of the other journalists killed have not been officially released.
The attacks came just a week after a blast at a voter registration center killed 60 people, in the wake of warnings by security officials against the risk of increasing attacks ahead of parliamentary elections planned in October.
Monday's first explosion in the Shashdarak area, close to buildings of the NDS intelligence service, was followed by one outside the ministry of urban development and housing, just as people were entering the government office.
AFP chief photographer in Afghanistan, Shah Marai, was among those killed Photo: AFP
Four people were killed and five injured in the first explosion, interior ministry spokesperson Najib Danish said.
Authorities had dispatched ambulances to the incident sites.
Soon after, a second explosion took place beside journalists who had gathered to cover the first blast, killing or wounding a number of photographers and cameraman, Reuters witnesses said.
Taliban militants, fighting to restore their version of strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, announced their usual spring offensive last week and there has been heavy fighting in several areas of the country since.
Hundreds of people have been killed and wounded in a series of high-profile attacks in Kabul since the beginning of the year, despite President Ashraf Ghani's offer in February for peace talks "without preconditions".
- Reuters/BBC
