Kabul, Aug. 26, (dpa/GNA) – Two employees of the popular Afghan television station ToloNews claimed on Thursday they had been beaten by Taliban fighters in Kabul.
Reporter Ziar Yaad and his cameraman said they were beaten on Wednesday while they were working on a report, ToloNews reported on its Twitter feed.
They had been filming day labourers and unemployed people for a feature when Taliban fighters suddenly attacked them without apparent cause, the tweet read.
Reporter Yaad wrote on Twitter: “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 … The Taliban got out of an armoured Land Cruiser and hit me at gunpoint.”
A Taliban representative told ToloNews the case was being investigated “seriously.”
The Taliban captured Kabul in mid-August after a rapid campaign of conquest across the country. They are now the country’s de facto rulers, as they were from 1996-2001.
The Islamists have said that media outlets could continue to operate normally. During their previous rule, there was no media freedom.
GNA