Samim Faramarz, 28, a reporter with an Afghan news channel, and his cameraperson, Ramiz Ahmadi, 23, were among the first few journalists at the scene of the Islamic State-claimed suicide attack in Kabul on September 5. As they finished the first broadcast about the explosion at a local sports club, Faramarz described the grim situation to his viewers. “I can smell blood here,” he said on live television. A few minutes later, another suicide explosion, at the very location, killed Farmarz and Ahmadi, adding them to the total casualty numbers for the day.
The two young news reporters are are among the dozens of local journalists in Afghanistan who have either been injured or killed in the increasing in the country this year along.While the overall civilian casualties in Afghanistan have increased substantially, casualties among Afghan journalists have also increased by several fold in the last two years. Earlier this year, in April, a similar attack involving a second explosion, a few minutes after the press arrived to cover a suicide attack, killed nine Afghan journalists. The attacker was disguised as a journalist and was carrying explosives in his camera. That apart, at least two other journalists have been assassinated in Khost and Kandahar provinces this year.
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