Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The second explosion targeted those at the scene of the first

At least 26 people have been killed in two bombings in the Afghan capital Kabul, including several journalists documenting the scene.

AFP chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, is among the victims.

The first explosion was carried out by an attacker on a motorbike. A second followed about 15 minutes later after a crowd, including several reporters, had gathered at the scene.

The Islamic State group (IS) said it had carried out the attack.

It was one of several fatal incidents on Monday.

BBC reporter Ahmad Shah was also killed in a separate attack in the Khost region.

And in a third attack, 11 children were killed in a suicide bombing intended to target Nato troops in Kandahar province.

Bomber 'disguised himself''

In the Kabul attack, the AFP news agency said the second blast had deliberately targeted the group of journalists, including its photographer Shah Marai.

"The bomber disguised himself as a journalist and detonated himself among the crowd," AFP quoted a police spokesman as saying.

Nine journalists and photographers and four police officers, were among the dead, officials say. So far, 45 people have been reported injured.

The intelligence services headquarters had been the target, IS said in a statement released through its self-styled news outlet Amaq.

The Shashdarak district also houses the defence ministry and a Nato compound.

"This is the deadliest day for Afghan media in the past 15 years," the head of Tolo News TV, Lotfullah Najafizada, told the BBC.

"We went, all of us, to the blast site. We said: 'If you killed an entire line of journalists reporting here, in five hours time we're back here; the line is longer; the queue is longer and the resolve is greater."

Bombings in the Afghan capital are not uncommon.

Earlier in April, a suicide bomb at a voter registration killed almost 60 people and injured 119, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

The Taliban also remain active in the country, only 30% of which is under full government control, according to BBC research published earlier this year.

Image copyright Shah Marai / AFP Image caption Photo by Shah Marai: An Afghan girl scavenges for recyclables, 2011

AFP paid tribute to Shah Marai, who it said had six children, including a newborn baby.

"This is a devastating blow," global news director Michele Leridon said.

"We can only honour the extraordinary strength, courage and generosity of a photographer who covered often traumatic, horrific events with sensitivity and consummate professionalism."

Who was the BBC's Ahmad Shah?

A shooting in Khost province resulted in the death of a BBC reporter.

"It is with great sadness that the BBC can confirm the death of BBC Afghan reporter Ahmad Shah following an attack earlier today," said Jamie Angus, director of the BBC World Service.

Image caption Ahmad Shah, 29, was killed by unknown attackers in Khost

"Ahmad Shah was 29. He had worked for the BBC Afghan service for more than a year and had already established himself as a highly capable journalist who was a respected and popular member of the team.

"This is a devastating loss and I send my sincere condolences to Ahmad Shah's friends and family and the whole BBC Afghan team.

"We are doing all we can to support his family at this very difficult time."

Local police are investigating a motive.

What happened in the Kandahar attack?

Also on Monday, a suicide bomb attack in the Kandahar region killed 11 schoolchildren and injured many more.

The bomber appeared to have been targeting a military vehicle convoy in Daman district, but the explosion struck a nearby religious school. In addition to the dead, more than a dozen children were reported injured in the blast.

Nato forces operate from a base in the area, and Nato officials confirmed that some of its people had been injured, as had Afghan police.

Eight of the injured were of Romanian nationality, Nato said, but all were in stable condition.

No group has yet said it carried out the Kandahar attack.</s>Two suicide bombings in Kabul killed 29 people in the Afghan capital on Monday morning. Journalists rushing to cover the first explosion were killed by a second bomber posing as a cameraman. Another 45 people were injured in the blasts.

The first explosion came at 8 a.m. local time in the Shashdarak area of the city, where the U.S. embassy and government buildings are located. According to the Washington Post, it followed a pattern of twin blasts meant to draw people to the area, then inflict more damage with he second bombing.

The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee said seven journalists were killed in the attack, including cameramen for TOLO TV and TV 1, two Afghan news organizations. Agence France-Presse said its chief photographer in Afghanistan, Shah Marai, was among the dead as well.

Marai began working at AFP as a driver in 1996 and rose through the ranks to become the bureau’s top photographer. In 2016, before the birth of his sixth child, he penned an essay on the anxieties of living in Kabul as the Taliban attempts to return to power. Marai wrote:

But there is no more hope. Life seems to be even more difficult than under the Taliban because of the insecurity. I don’t dare to take my children for a walk. I have five and they spend their time cooped up inside the house. Every morning as I go to the office and every evening when I return home, all I think of are cars that can be booby-trapped, or of suicide bombers coming out of a crowd. I can’t take the risk. So we don’t go out.

Six weeks ago there were reports that some in the Taliban wanted to reach a peace settlement with the Afghan government, but since then there’s only been an uptick in violence. A little over a week ago a suicide bombing outside a voter-registration center killed 57 people and wounded 100 more.

ISIS claimed responsibility for that attack, and its strategy involves killing civilians. Taliban militants just announced their spring offensive last week, but they have said they would target Afghan and foreign security forces rather than civilians. So far no group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack.</s>KABUL | Two Islamic State suicide bombers struck in Afghanistan’s capital on Monday, killing 25 people, including nine journalists who had rushed to the scene of the first attack, in the deadliest assault on reporters since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

An Agence France-Presse photographer and a cameraman for the local Tolo TV station were among the fatalities, police said. Two reporters for the Afghan branch of Radio Free Europe and a third who was to begin working there soon also were killed, Radio Free Europe said. At least 45 people were wounded in the attacks, according to Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai, who said four police were among those killed.

The attack was the latest in a relentless string of large-scale bombings and assaults in the capital and elsewhere in Afghanistan this year.

A few hours later, in the southern Kandahar province, a suicide car bomb targeting a NATO convoy killed 11 children from a nearby religious school, police said. The children had gathered around the NATO convoy for fun when the bomber struck, said Abdul Rahim Ayubi, a lawmaker from Kandahar. Eight Romanian NATO soldiers were wounded.

The Islamic State group claimed the Kabul bombings in a statement posted online, saying it targeted the Afghan intelligence headquarters. The statement did not say anything about specifically targeting journalists. The blasts took place in the central Shash Darak area, home to NATO headquarters and a number of embassies and foreign offices — as well as the Afghan intelligence service.

Stanekzai said the first suicide bomber was on a motorbike, while the second targeted those scrambling to the scene to aid victims. He said the second attacker was on foot in a crowd of reporters, pretending to be a member of the press, when he set off his payload.

AFP said the news agency’s chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, was among those killed. Hundreds of people attended his funeral later on Monday.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said it was the deadliest attack targeting reporters since the U.S.-led invasion that overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

The Paris-based group named the nine journalists killed, who worked for media organizations from multiple countries, and said another six reporters were wounded. The group, also known by its French acronym RSF, said 36 media workers have been killed in Afghanistan in attacks by IS or the Taliban since 2016.

In a separate attack in the eastern Khost province, a 29-year-old reporter for the BBC’s Afghan service was shot dead by unknown gunmen. The BBC confirmed the death of Ahmad Shah, saying he had worked for its Afghan service for more than a year. BBC World Service Director Jamie Angus called it a “devastating loss.”

Survivors of the attacks in Kabul recounted scenes of mayhem.

“When the explosion happened, everywhere was covered with dust and fire, it was such a horrific scene,” said Jawed Ghulam Sakhi, a 28-year-old taxi driver. “I saw journalists covered with blood.”

Masouda, a young woman who was with her husband when he was wounded in the attack, lashed out at the authorities.

“I don’t know who is responsible for all these attacks. Every day we lose our loved ones and no one in this government is taking responsibility for the killing of these innocent people,” she said. Like many Afghans, she has one name.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attacks, as did the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of all the victims, including a number of brave journalists among the dead and injured,” the embassy said. “Where media are in danger, all other human rights are under greater threat.”

In other violence Monday, insurgents killed at least four Afghan policemen in an ambush in the northern Balkh province, said Sher Mohammad Abu-Tariq, the district chief in Nahri Shahi. In the eastern Nangarhar province, an explosion killed an Afghan police officer and wounded four other people, said Attuhullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor.

No one claimed responsibility for the attacks. The IS affiliate in Afghanistan first emerged in Nangarhar a few years ago, then expanded its footprint across the country.

IS and the more firmly established Taliban carry out regular attacks, with the Taliban usually targeting the Afghan government and security forces, and IS targeting the country’s Shiite minority, whom the militants view as apostates.

The relentless assaults underscore the struggles that Afghan security forces have faced since the United States and NATO concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. Both armed groups want to establish strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan.

Last week, an Islamic State suicide bomber attacked a voter registration center in Kabul, killing 60 people and wounding at least 130 others. The month before, an IS suicide bomber targeted a Shiite shrine in Kabul where people had gathered to celebrate the Persian new year. That attack killed 31 people and wounded 65 others.

Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Angela Charlton in Paris and Alison Mutler in Bucharest, Romania, contributed to this report.</s>Kabul—A coordinated double suicide bombing hit central Kabul on Monday morning, killing 25 people and wounding 45 others.

Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai confirmed that four policemen were killed, while an Afghan media watchdog, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC), confirmed that eight journalists were also killed.

The AJSC said that six journalists were reportedly wounded in the attacks. Agence France-Presse(AFP) confirmed that its chief photographer Shah Marai, a journalist from 1TV and one from Tolo News were among the dead.

A first bomb was detonated by an assailant on a motorcycle and left at least four dead and five injured, according to the Interior Ministry.

A second explosion came minutes after the first targeted reporters at the scene, Stanekzai told AFP.

"The bomber disguised himself as a journalist and detonated himself among the crowd," he said.

A security source also confirmed both were suicide blasts.

The militant Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement issued via its propaganda agency Amaq. It claimed that two suicide bombers had targeted the Kabul headquarters of Afghanistan's intelligence services.

Shah Marai joined AFP as a driver in 1996, the year the Taliban seized power, and began taking pictures on the side, covering stories including the US invasion in 2001.

In 2002 he became a full-time photo stringer, rising through the ranks to become chief photographer in the bureau.

He leaves behind six children, including a newborn daughter.

"This is a devastating blow, for the brave staff of our close-knit Kabul bureau and the entire agency," the agency's global news director Michele Leridon said.

"We can only honour the strength, courage, and generosity of a photographer who covered often traumatic, horrific events with sensitivity and consummate professionalism."

The latest attacks come days after the Taliban kicked off their spring offensive in an apparent rejection of calls for the militants to take up the Afghan government's offer of peace talks.

During the announcement, the group vowed to target US forces and "their intelligence agents" as well as their "internal supporters".

The blasts follow several bloody attacks across the country, including a bombing that targeted a voter registration centre in Kabul that killed at least 57 people last week.

The Taliban said the offensive was partly a response to US President Donald Trump's new strategy for Afghanistan announced last August, which gave US forces more leeway to go after insurgents.

President Ashraf Ghani's government is under pressure on multiple fronts this year as it prepares to hold October's long-delayed elections while its security forces struggle to get the upper hand on the battlefield and prevent civilian casualties.

Officials have acknowledged that security is a major concern because the Taliban and other militant groups control or contest large swathes of the country.

A series of attacks on voter registration centres across the war-torn has deterred many Afghans from signing up to participate in the October 20 ballot.

Some Western and Afghan officials expect 2018 to be a particularly bloody year.

General John Nicholson, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, told Tolo TV last month that he expected the Taliban to carry out more suicide attacks this fighting season.</s>KABUL: A coordinated double suicide bombing hit central Kabul on Monday morning, killing 25 people, including an AFP photographer and a cameraman for a local TV station, the Afghan police said.At least 45 people were wounded in the twin attacks, according to Kabul police spokesman, Hashmat Stanekzai, who also added that four policemen were among those killed.The attack was the latest in a relentless string of deadly large-scale bombings and assaults that have struck in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan so far this year. No one immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's attack, but both Taliban and Islamic State group are active and have repeatedly claimed attacks in Kabul.The suicide blasts took place in the central Shash Darak area, which is home to the NATO headquarters and a number of embassies in Afghanistan.Stanekzai, the police spokesman, said the first suicide bomber was on a motor bike. The second explosion was meant to hit those rushing to the scene of the attack to help the victims of the first blast.He said the second attacker was on foot, in a crowd of reporters that had rushed to the scene of the first attack, pretending to be one of the media. He then detonated his explosives while still among the reporters, the spokesman said, intentionally targeting journalists.Agence France-Presse reported that the news agency's chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, was among those killed. AFP said Marai died in a blast that struck a group of journalists who had rushed to the scene of the earlier suicide attack in Kabul.Sediqullah Tawhidi, an official form the Afghan Journalist Safety Committee, said a cameraman form the local TOLO TV also was killed. Police officer Jan Agha said the journalists died in the second blast, which also wounded two police officers.Kabul chief of police Dawood Amin said the area of Kabul that was targeted, which includes many foreign offices, was quickly sealed off and authorities were investigating. Mohammad Mousa Zahir, director of Wazir Akbarkhan Hospital, said several people suffering injuries from the blasts were being treated at the hospital.The local Islamic State group affiliate and the more firmly established Taliban carry out regular attacks around the country, with the Taliban usually targeting the government and security forces and IS targeting members of the country's the Shiite minority, whom the affiliate perceives as apostates. Large-scale attacks by the Taliban and the Islamic State group have also hit the Afghan capital, the seat of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government.The relentless underscore the struggles that Afghan security forces have faced to reign in the militant groups since the United States and NATO concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. Both groups want to establish strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan.Last week, an Islamic State suicide bomber attacked a voter registration center in Kabul, killing 60 people and wounding at least 130 others. There were 22 women and eight children among the fatalities.And the month before, an IS suicide bomber targeted a Shiite shrine in Kabul where people had gathered celebrating the Persian new year. That attack killed 31 people and wounded 65 others.</s>KABUL, Afghanistan — A coordinated double suicide bombing by the Islamic State group hit central Kabul on Monday morning, killing at least 25 people, including eight journalists, officials said. An AFP photographer and a cameraman for a local TV station were among the fatalities, the police said.

At least 45 people were wounded in the twin attacks, according to Kabul police spokesman, Hashmat Stanekzai, who also added that four policemen were among those killed.

The attack was the latest in a relentless string of deadly large-scale bombings and assaults that have struck Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan so far this year. And as the Afghan capital reeled from Monday’s assault, a suicide car bombing a few hours later in the southern province of Kandahar killed 11 children, a police spokesman said.

In a statement posted on an IS-affiliated website, the Islamic State group said two of its martyrdom seekers carried out the double Kabul bombings, targeting the headquarters of the “renegade” Afghan intelligence services.

The blasts took place in the central Shash Darak area, home to NATO headquarters and a number of embassies and foreign offices — as well as the Afghan intelligence service.

Stanekzai, the police spokesman, said the first suicide bomber was on a motor bike. The second explosion was meant to hit those rushing to the scene of the attack to help the victims of the first blast, he added.

The second attacker was on foot, in a crowd of reporters that had rushed to the scene of the first attack, pretending to be one of the media, the spokesman said. The bomber then detonated his explosives while still among the reporters, Stanekzai said, adding that the attacker obviously intentionally targeted the journalists.

Agence France-Presse said the news agency’s chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, was among those killed. AFP said Marai died in a blast that struck journalists who had rushed to the scene of the earlier suicide attack .

A local media watchdog, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, said eight Afghan journalists were killed and six were wounded. The group strongly condemned all attacks against journalists.

Sediqullah Tawhidi, an official form the committee, said a cameraman form the local TOLO TV also was among those killed. Police officer Jan Agha said all the journalists died in the second blast, which also wounded two police officers.

Jawed Ghulam Sakhi, a 28-year-old a taxi driver said “when the explosion happened, everywhere was covered with dust and fire, it was so horrific scene” with bodies and body parts “thrown about on the street and the pavement.”

“I saw journalists covered with blood, this time they targeted the media,” Sakhi added.

Masouda, a young woman who was with her husband nearby, assailed the authorities. Her husband was wounded and was taken to the Wazir Akbar Khan hospital.

“I don’t know who is responsible for all these attacks, every day we lose our loved ones and no one in this government is taking responsibility for the killing of these innocent people,” she said.

Afghan President Asharf Ghani strongly condemned the attacks. The presidential palace released a statement saying that attacks targeting innocent civilians, worshippers inside the mosques, national and democratic processes, reporters and freedom of speech all are war crimes.

The U.S. Embassy also condemned the “savage bombings” in Kabul and reiterated its support for the Afghan people and Ghani’s government in their fight against terrorism.”

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of all the victims, including a number of brave journalists among the dead and injured,” it said, adding that “where media are in danger, all other human rights are under greater threat.”

Kabul chief of police Dawood Amin said the area that was hit was quickly sealed off and authorities were investigating. Mohammad Mousa Zahir, director of Wazir Akbarkhan Hospital, said several people suffering injuries from the blasts were being treated at the hospital.

In its claim of responsibility, the Afghan affiliate of IS, known as Khorasan Province, said the first martyrdom seeker in the attack detonated his explosive vest near the intelligence service in central Kabul, forcing its members to head to the area of the explosion. The statement said the second attacker detonated his explosive vest after that. The statement, which exaggerated the overall death toll as militant claims often do, did not say that journalists were specifically targeted but exaggerated the attacks’ death toll.

In the Kandahar attack, an Afghan official said a suicide bomber targeted a NATO convoy in the district of Daman but killed 11 children from a religious school located by the roadside from where the explosion occurred.

Matiullah Helal, deputy spokesman for the provincial police chief, said 16 people were also wounded, including five NATO soldiers, nine civilians and two policemen. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Kandahar bombing and no comment from NATO.

The children from the madrasa had gathered around the NATO convoy for fun when the bomber struck, said Abdul Rahim Ayubi, a lawmaker from Kandahar.

The local IS affiliate and the more firmly established Taliban carry out regular attacks around the country, as well as in Kabul, with the Taliban usually targeting the government and security forces and IS targeting members of the country’s the Shiite minority, whom the affiliate perceives as apostates.

The relentless assaults underscore the struggles that Afghan security forces have faced to reign in the militant groups since the United States and NATO concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. Both groups want to establish strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan.

Last week, an Islamic State suicide bomber attacked a voter registration center in Kabul, killing 60 people and wounding at least 130 others. There were 22 women and eight children among the fatalities.

And the month before, an IS suicide bomber targeted a Shiite shrine in Kabul where people had gathered celebrating the Persian new year. That attack killed 31 people and wounded 65 others.</s>KABUL, Afghanistan — Back to back suicide bombs claimed by the extremist Islamic State group exploded Monday morning near an Afghan security compound in a highly secure area of the Afghan capital, killing at least 25 people, including journalists, police said.

The second blast came as news photographers and crews were rushing to the scene, and at least seven journalists were killed, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee said.

Agence France-Presse identified one of the dead as Shah Marai, its chief photographer in Kabul. The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee said other victims included a cameramen and journalists for local TV stations.

Hours after the attacks, the local branch of the Islamic State group posted a statement online saying two of its “martyrs” carried out an attack on the Afghan intelligence services in Kabul.

The attack took place in the Shash Darak neighborhood, which is the site of a number of embassies and the NATO headquarters.

The first blast left at least five people dead and four others wounded, according to police. The second was more powerful, and appeared to follow a pattern of double bombings intended to draw people to the site and inflict greater harm.

The second suicide bomber was on foot, a police official said, and mingled among the crowd of journalists who had gathered after the first blast.

Police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai told the Associated Press that 25 were killed and 45 wounded.

The attack came just over a week after a massive suicide bombing occurred outside a voter ID registration center, killing more than 50 people. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack.

Monday’s attack also came days after Taliban insurgents announced the launch of their annual spring offensive, dimming hopes for peace talks recently proposed by the government. The group said it would target Afghan and foreign security forces but would avoid civilian casualties.

The rival extremist Islamic State group, however, has made targeting civilians a key part of its strategy.

Follow the Bangor Daily News on Facebook for the latest Maine news.</s>KABUL (Reuters) - The suicide attack that killed nine Afghan journalists as they gathered to cover a bomb explosion in the capital Kabul on Monday was the deadliest day for the country’s media since a U.S.-led campaign ousted the Taliban in 2001.

Police had blocked off the site of the first blast and photographers, cameramen and reporters were standing around in a loose group when the bomber struck, killing seven journalists outright and wounding several, two of whom later died.

The bomber appeared to have deliberately targeted journalists, presenting a press card to police before joining the group standing near the first blast site, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danesh said.

In all, 26 people died in the two blasts, which were claimed by Islamic State.

Among the dead were Shah Marai, veteran chief photographer for Agence France-Presse in Afghanistan, who had worked for the agency for 22 years. Also killed was Maharam Durani, a young female producer who had joined Radio Azadi, a local station, only a week earlier.

Reuters photographer Omar Sobhani, an old friend and colleague of Shah Marai, was standing next to him when the bomb exploded.

“We were standing on a slight rise to get a better shot when I heard a bang and saw him on the ground. I was stunned, I couldn’t believe it,” said Sobhani, who suffered minor wounds.

“He was a very good photographer - the best - but he was also a very good man.”

Among a litany of setbacks since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 and tens of thousands of deaths, Afghanistan’s lively and independent media sector has stood out as a success but it has suffered heavy losses.

According to the Afghanistan Journalists Safety Committee, at least 80 journalists and media workers have been killed working in the country since 2001.

But there had never been a day when so many were killed in the same attack. As well as AFP and Radio Azadi, which lost two employees in the attack, local stations Tolo News, 1TV and Mashal TV also lost staff.

Shah Marai’s career stretched back to the days of the Taliban when he joined AFP as a driver before becoming a full time photographer in 2002, chronicling Afghanistan’s long and uncertain struggle to find peace.

By contrast, Maharam Durani’s career was just beginning. A final year student who had joined Radio Azadi as a producer on a women’s programme just a week earlier, she had stopped off at the site on her way to work in case she could help, said Hameed Momand, head of Radio Azadi in Kabul.

It was the worst attack on journalists since 2016, when seven Tolo TV employees were killed by a Taliban suicide attacker who rammed a car bomb into a bus driving them home from the station. The Taliban had warned earlier that they considered journalists legitimate targets.

Globally, it was the worst attack on journalists in a single incident since 31 reporters and photographers were killed in a massacre in the southern Philippines in 2009.</s>KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A coordinated double suicide bombing by the Islamic State group hit central Kabul on Monday morning, killing at least 25 people, including eight journalists, officials said. An AFP photographer and a cameraman for a local TV station were among the fatalities, the police said.

At least 45 people were wounded in the twin attacks, according to Kabul police spokesman, Hashmat Stanekzai, who also added that four policemen were among those killed.

The attack was the latest in a relentless string of deadly large-scale bombings and assaults that have struck Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan so far this year.

In a statement posted on an IS-affiliated website, the Islamic State group said two of its martyrdom seekers carried out the double bombing, targeting the headquarters of the “renegade” Afghan intelligence services in Kabul.

The blasts took place in the central Shash Darak area, home to NATO headquarters and a number of embassies and foreign offices — as well as the Afghan intelligence service.

Stanekzai, the police spokesman, said the first suicide bomber was on a motor bike. The second explosion was meant to hit those rushing to the scene of the attack to help the victims of the first blast, he added.

The second attacker was on foot, in a crowd of reporters that had rushed to the scene of the first attack, pretending to be one of the media, the spokesman said. The bomber then detonated his explosives while still among the reporters, Stanekzai said, adding that the attacker obviously intentionally targeted the journalists.

Agence France-Presse said the news agency’s chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, was among those killed. AFP said Marai died in a blast that struck journalists who had rushed to the scene of the earlier suicide attack .

A local media watchdog, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, said eight Afghan journalists were killed and six were wounded. The group strongly condemned all attacks against journalists.

Sediqullah Tawhidi, an official form the committee, said a cameraman form the local TOLO TV also was among those killed. Police officer Jan Agha said all the journalists died in the second blast, which also wounded two police officers.

Jawed Ghulam Sakhi, a 28-year-old a taxi driver said “when the explosion happened, everywhere was covered with dust and fire, it was so horrific scene” with bodies and body parts “thrown about on the street and the pavement.”

“I saw journalists covered with blood, this time they targeted the media,” Sakhi added.

Masouda, a young woman who was with her husband nearby, assailed the authorities. Her husband was wounded and was taken to the Wazir Akbar Khan hospital.

“I don’t know who is responsible for all these attacks, every day we lose our loved ones and no one in this government is taking responsibility for the killing of these innocent people,” she said.

Afghan President Asharf Ghani strongly condemned the attacks. The presidential palace released a statement saying that attacks targeting innocent civilians, worshippers inside the mosques, national and democratic processes, reporters and freedom of speech all are war crimes.

Kabul chief of police Dawood Amin said the area that was hit was quickly sealed off and authorities were investigating. Mohammad Mousa Zahir, director of Wazir Akbarkhan Hospital, said several people suffering injuries from the blasts were being treated at the hospital.

In its claim of responsibility, the Afghan affiliate of IS, known as Khorasan Province, said the first martyrdom seeker in the attack detonated his explosive vest near the intelligence service in central Kabul, forcing its members to head to the area of the explosion. The statement said the second attacker detonated his explosive vest after that. The statement, which exaggerated the overall death toll as militant claims often do, did not say that journalists were specifically targeted but exaggerated the attacks’ death toll.

The local IS affiliate and the more firmly established Taliban carry out regular attacks around the country, as well as in Kabul, with the Taliban usually targeting the government and security forces and IS targeting members of the country’s the Shiite minority, whom the affiliate perceives as apostates.

The relentless assaults underscore the struggles that Afghan security forces have faced to reign in the militant groups since the United States and NATO concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. Both groups want to establish strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan.

Last week, an Islamic State suicide bomber attacked a voter registration center in Kabul, killing 60 people and wounding at least 130 others. There were 22 women and eight children among the fatalities.

And the month before, an IS suicide bomber targeted a Shiite shrine in Kabul where people had gathered celebrating the Persian new year. That attack killed 31 people and wounded 65 others.</s>A coordinated double suicide bombing hit central Kabul on Monday morning, killing 21 people, including an AFP photographer and a cameraman for a local TV station, Afghan officials said.

Also, at least 27 people were wounded, according to Wahid Majroh, the public health ministry’s spokesman who gave the latest casualty tolls. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but both Taliban and Islamic State group are active and have repeatedly claimed attacks in Kabul.

Agence France-Presse reported that the news agency’s chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, was among those killed. AFP said Marai died in a blast that was targeting a group of journalists who had rushed to the scene of the earlier suicide attack in Kabul.

Sediqullah Tawhidi, an official form the Afghan Journalist Safety Committee, said a cameraman form the local TOLO TV also was killed. Police officer Jan Agha said the journalists died in the second blast, which also wounded two police officers.

The suicide attacks took place in the central Shash Darak area, which is home to the NATO headquarters and a number of embassies in Afghanistan. The second was meant to hit those rushing to the scene of the attack to help the victims of the first blast.

Kabul chief of police Dawood Amin said the area of Kabul that was targeted, which includes many foreign offices, was quickly sealed off. Mohammad Mousa Zahir, director of Wazir Akbarkhan Hospital, said several people suffering injuries from the blasts were being treated at the hospital.

The local Islamic State group affiliate and the more firmly established Taliban carry out regular attacks around the country, with the Taliban usually targeting the government and security forces and IS targeting the Shiite minority. Large-scale attacks by the two militant groups have also hit the Afghan capital. Both groups want to establish strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan.
Twin suicide bombings in Kabul, Afghanistan, kill at least 25 people, including prominent Agence France-Presse photographer Shah Marai and three Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalists who were covering the first bombing. ISIL's Afghan branch claims responsibility.