A journalist was killed on Tuesday night in Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan, after an explosive device detonated when the journalist entered his vehicle.
Nasrullah Afridi, a correspondent for Pakistan television and the leading Urdu newspaper, Daily Mashriq, also served as president of the Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ), the Khyber Agency Unit, according to local news reports.
Afridi’s car was parked in front of the TUJ office, which Afridi regularly visited.
The website of the Dawn group of newspapers reported that Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, after visiting the site, claimed that the blast was a targeted attack, and noted that militants have been targeting journalists.
The TUJ strongly condemned what it called a “terrorist” attack on the journalist, and accused the government of failing to protect the lives of journalists across the country despite pressing demands by media representatives, Pakistan’s Radio Journalists Association reported.
Afridi, who had worked as a journalist for over ten years, had to move from his hometown Hayatabad to Peshawar after receiving threats from militant groups.
“We are saddened at the murder of yet another journalist in Pakistan,“ said IPI Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. “We extend our condolences to the family of Nasrullah Afridi and call on the country’s authorities to take immediate steps to bring the perpetrators to justice“
Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists last year, with 16 journalists killed because of their profession, according to IPI’s Death Watch. Afridi is the 50th journalist to be killed in Pakistan since the year 2000. All 50 journalists were either targeted because of their reports or died as a consequence of the extremely dangerous environment in which journalists in Pakistan have to work.