A second Samaa TV journalist killed in a suicide bombing

Reporters Without Borders is deeply saddened to learn that reporter Azmat Ali Bangash today became the second Samaa TV journalist to be killed by a suicide bomber in past 48 hours. We would like to express our condolences to the victim’s family and our support for Samaa TV for its courageous work in what is one of the world’s toughest regions for the media. Bangash was doing a report in a camp for displaced Shiite villagers near the Afghan border, 65 km from Peshawar, when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the place where families had gathered to be registered, killing 41 people including Bangash and injuring around 60 others. The bombings, which were claimed by a Sunni jihadist group, Al Laskhar-e-Jahngvi, were targeted at Shiites who have been forced to flee the fierce fighting in the Orakzai region resulting from an army offensive against the Taliban. Samaa TV cameraman Malik Arif was killed and five journalists were wounded by a suicide bombing at a Quetta hospital yesterday that left a total of eight dead. The journalists had gone to the hospital to cover a Shiite demonstration in support of a Shiite businessman who had been the target of a murder attempt. These two bombings on successive days are indicative of the resurgence of violence against Pakistan’s Shiite community and the increased risks for journalists in the course of their work. Bangash was the third journalist to be killed in Pakistan since the start of the year. Pakistan is ranked 159th out of 175 countries in the latest Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. Watch the videos on the events by Samaa TV: http://www.samaa.tv/NewsVideos.aspx?NVID=19277 http://www.samaa.tv/SamaaVideos.aspx?loc=287#