- Title: PAKISTAN: Taliban gunmen kill 3 media workers in Karachi
- Date: 17th January 2014
- Summary: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3 KARACHI, PAKISTAN (JANUARY 17, 2014) (REUTERS) LOCAL TELEVISION SATELLITE VAN THAT WAS ATTACKED BY UNKNOWN GUNMEN, PARKED OUTSIDE HOSPITAL BLOOD ON SEAT OF VAN BULLET HOLE ON VAN "EXPRESS NEWS" NAME OF TV CHANNEL WRITTEN ON VAN AMBULANCE OUTSIDE MORT
- Embargoed: 1st February 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Pakistan
- Country: Pakistan
- Topics: Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA6LT3OLYH9ZBCD6MVW1SG4LPHA
- Story Text: Taliban gunmen kill three men working for a private television station in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi. Meanwhile, in a separate incident, gunmen shoot and kill provincial chief of radical Sunni party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam along with driver and guard.
Taliban gunmen killed three men working for a private television station in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi on Friday (January 17), the station and the Islamist militant group said.
Gunmen on motorcycles shot dead a technician, guard and driver working for Express TV, the station said.
"The van was parked near Board Office signal. The staffers were sitting inside van for their work. Four men came on two motorcycles; they extended their hands inside window and fired on," said Mohammad Akhtar, a senior police official.
Regional Taliban spokesman Sajjad Mohmand claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to Reuters.
"We will continue to target the media if they do not stop propaganda against Islam and the Taliban," he said.
Former Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told the station it had been attacked because the Taliban considered its coverage biased and the Taliban would continue to attack journalists they disagreed with.
"Channels should give coverage to our ideology. Otherwise we will continue attacking the media," the TV station broadcast him saying.
Express TV was attacked twice last year and several employees were injured.
Five journalists were killed in Pakistan last year. The Committee to Protect Journalists says it is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist.
In a separate incident, unknown gunmen shot dead provincial chief of radical Sunni party along with his driver and guard in Karachi.
Mufti Usman Yar Khan, Sindh chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Samiul Haq (JUI-S), was passing through Karachi's Sharae Faisal when the attackers fired and killed him, guard and the driver.
Police said another person was injured in the attack.
"It was rush hour. It is difficult to identify in this night time. We will now collect the CCTV footage. Let us see how much it helps in the investigation,"superintendent of police, Muqaddas Haider told reporters.
Attackers fled away from the crime scene. Police said they were investigating. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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