Afghanistan TOLO News reporter says was beaten up by Taliban, reports of death ‘false’
"I was beaten by the Taliban in Kabul's New City while reporting. Cameras, technical equipment and my personal mobile phone have also been hijacked. Some people have spread the news of my death which is false. The The Taliban got out of an armored Land Cruiser and hit me at gunpoint," tweeted Khan.
FollowKabul: As Afghanistan’s first independent news channel, TOLO News on Thursday confirmed the death of its reporter Ziar Yaad Khan in Kabul at the hands of Taliban, the tweeted saying he was beaten up by the Taliban at gunpoint in Kabul on Thursday.
"I was beaten by the Taliban in Kabul's New City while reporting. Cameras, technical equipment and my personal mobile phone have also been hijacked. Some people have spread the news of my death which is false. The The Taliban got out of an armored Land Cruiser and hit me at gunpoint," tweeted Khan.
He added, “I still don’t know why they behaved like that and suddenly attacked me. The issue has been shared with Taliban leaders. However, the perpetrators have not been arrested yet, which is a serious threat to freedom of expression.”
Earlier, the Taliban had killed a Deutsche Welle (DW) journalist’s relative while hunting for him, the German public broadcaster had said. The militants were conducting a house-to-house search for the journalist, who now works in Germany, DW had said. A second relative was seriously wounded but others were able to escape, it said, without giving details of the incident.
In July, Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui working for an international news agency Reuters, was killed while reporting in Kandahar. Siddiqui was travelling along with the Afghan Special Forces and had been reporting on their operations against the Taliban in the region.
Taliban gained control over Afghanistan on August 15 after Kabul fell following the withdrawal of US troops. The world expected Afghan forces to put up a fight against the Taliban, however, they surrendered sooner than expected.
Thousands of Afghani nationals and citizens of other countries including India are fleeing from the war-torn country to escape from the clutches of Taliban.
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