Stig Östlund

tisdag, mars 11, 2014

Swedish journalist Nils Horner murdered execution-style in Kabul as Afghanistan prepares for fresh violence ahead of its presidential elections

England


A Swedish journalist with dual British nationality was shot and killed in central Kabul this morning as the country braced itself for a surge in violence ahead of next month’s presidential elections.


Nils Horner, 51, was shot in the head with a silenced pistol while on his way to interview the survivor of a Taliban attack. The daylight shooting was in one of the capital’s most distinguished districts, Wazir Akbar Khan, where many diplomats and ex patriots have their homes and offices.
Mr Horner was Asia Correspondent for the Swedish public radio station, Sveriges Radios, and lived in Hong Kong. He had only been in Kabul for a couple of days when the attack happened but had previously reported from Afghanistan in 2001 when the Taliban were ousted from power.
Experts last night said an attack of this kind was unprecedented. The reasons behind it are still unclear, and the Taliban have so far maintained that they are not responsible. But its timing – and the fact that Mr Horner was on his way to interview a victim of their last attack on Kabul ex-pats – suggests they could be behind it.
Mr Horner was shot while walking down the street in the diplomatic district at 11.15 this morning after getting out of a Toyota Corolla around 100 yards from a luxury supermarket. He was on his way to interview a kebab chef on the site of a Taliban attack the man survived in January, when 21 people, 13 of whom were foreigners, were killed in a popular Lebanese restaurant.
The shooting took place just as a state funeral was concluding for vice-president Mohammad Qasim Fahim, who died at the weekend from a long-running heart problem. Security forces were already on high-alert and several streets near the shooting had been closed for Fahim’s funeral procession. Ordinarily there would be a strong police presence in Wazir Akbar Khan, but the security forces were focused on the route.

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