Kabul blast kills 25 at Afghan Voice news agency, cultural center

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide attack on an office of the Afghan Voice news agency and a neighboring cultural center in Kabul killed dozens on Thursday, officials and witnesses said.

Police spokesman Basir Mojahid told NBC News that at least 25 people had been killed and 32 others injured.

Image: Afghan security forces — Afghan security forces near the scene in Kabul on Thursday.Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

The attack occurred during a morning panel discussion at the center, witnesses said. Many of those attending were witnesses.

Sayed Abbas Hussaini, a journalist at the agency, said there appeared to have been more than one explosion during the attack, following an initial blast at the entrance to the compound.

Photographs sent by witnesses showed what appeared to be serious damage at the site, in a heavily Shiite Muslim area in the west of the capital, and a number of dead and wounded on the ground.

Afghan Voice has Shiite links but there was no immediate claim of responsibility. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued statement on Twitter denying involvement.

The attack, the latest in a series to hit Afghan media groups in recent years, follows an attack on a private television station in Kabul last month.

According to a report this month by media freedom group Reporters without Borders, Afghanistan is among the world's most dangerous countries for media workers with two journalists and five media assistants killed doing their jobs in 2017, before Thursday's attack.

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