Afghan parliamentary advisor, former journo shot dead in Kabul: Ministry

An advisor to Afghanistan’s parliament and a former journalist has been shot dead by unknown assailants in capital Kabul, the ministry of interior affairs says.

Mina Mangal, who was acting as a cultural advisor to the Wolesi Jirga, the Lower House of the Afghan Parliament, was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Kart-e-Naw area in Kabul’s 8th police district at 7:20 a.m. local time on Saturday, said Nasrat Rahimi, a spokesman for the ministry of interior, in a statement.

He added that police had already launched an investigation into her assassination.

Before becoming an advisor to the Cultural Commission of the Parliament, Mangal had worked as a news presenter for three Kabul-based television networks, namely LEMAR TV, Shamshad News, and Ariana TV.

No individual or group has yet claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, but the Takfiri Daesh terrorist outfit and the Taliban militant group are for now considered as the prime suspects in her murder.

Back in December, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its annual analysis that Afghanistan had been the deadliest country for journalists in the world during 2018 with 13 journalists and two media workers killed.

Taliban's landmine kills several children

Separately on Saturday, Afghan officials said that at least seven children had been killed and two others sustained injuries when a landmine went off in Ghazni province, south of Kabul.

“The mine was planted by the Taliban on a main road to inflict casualties on security forces,” said provincial spokesman Aref Noori, adding that the explosive device exploded when two of the children stepped on it while playing near a main road.

Amanullah Kamrani, a member of Ghazni provincial council, also noted that the children were aged between seven and nine and at least four of them were siblings.

The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) says casualties caused by landmines and so-called “explosive remnants of war” have increased five-fold between 2012 and 2017, the last year full data was available.

The Taliban’s five-year rule over at least three quarters of Afghanistan came to an end following the US-led invasion of the country in 2001. But 18 years on, Washington is still entangled in the war and is now seeking a truce with the militants.

However, the militants have continued to carry out their attacks, especially against Afghan security forces, despite holding several rounds of peace talks with the United States in recent months.

Furthermore, since late 2017, Daesh, which has already lost all its urban strongholds in Syria and Iraq, has taken advantage of the chaos in Afghanistan and established a foothold in the Asian country’s eastern and northern regions, launching brutal attacks against civilians and security forces alike.

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