Afghan journalist survives gun attack in Kabul: Taliban official

KABUL: Gunmen on a motorcycle brandished small arms and fired on a broadcast journalist in his car in Kabul, Afghanistan, lightly wounding him.

According to Taliban deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi, Ali Reza Sharifi, a journalist for Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, survived the attack. “We are investigating to find the perpetrator,” he said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Giving details about the incident, Ali Reza Sharifi told AP that he was driving home when two men riding a motorcycle opened fire on his car. “A bullet fired from the left just touched my lip,” he said, adding “shredded window pieces hit my left eye”.

“They started firing from the front and I escaped to the back seat,” he added. Pictures of Sharifi’s car shared on social media show at least two bullet holes on one of the car’s windows.

The assault comes just days after an Afghan media watchdog reported more than 30 instances of violence and threats of violence against Afghan journalists over the last two months, with nearly 90 percent committed by the Taliban.

Since the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in late August, three journalists have been killed in Afghanistan.