Afghan journalist shot, injured in capital

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad-based Afghan journalist sustained serious injuries in an attack on wee hours of Thursday when he was walking back to his residence in the federal capital after performing his duty along with his colleagues, police said.

The Aabpara police have registered a first information report (FIR) on the complaint of Abdul Aleem, under Section 294 (Voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery). The police said they were probing all aspects to ascertain the facts. It was not immediately clear if the journalist was victim of robbery or a targeted attack.

The people close to the victim, said that Ahmad Hanaish, an Afghan radio journalist and member of the Pak-Afghan Journalists Union, was wounded critically by three unknown bike riding assailants.

The journalist was going back to his residence when the three armed muggers shot at him from a distance of one meter. One bullet hit Hanaish’s head and one bullet pierced his leg.

The police stated in the FIR that three bike-riding gunmen intercepted the victim who was walking towards his guesthouse at Embassy Road, G-6/4, held him at gunpoint, and snatched his Apple mobile phone, but opened fire on resistance and sped away. The victim was later shifted to a hospital in critical condition.