A suicide bomber has killed seven people and injured at least 25 at the Kabul headquarters of a TV channel in the latest deadly attack in the Afghan capital.

The dead were employees of the popular channel Tolo, a privately run news and entertainment station that is often critical of the Taliban.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack on Wednesday, which came just two days after a second round of a four-country meeting in Kabul aimed at reviving peace talks with the Taliban.



The Taliban in October declared Tolo and 1TV, another privately run news channel, as legitimate “military targets”. The group said the move was in response to reports claiming Taliban fighters raped women at a hostel in Kunduz after the group briefly captured the northern city last September.

The Taliban rejected the reports as fabrications, saying they were examples of propaganda by the “satanic networks”. “No employee, anchor, office, news team and reporter of these TV channels holds any immunity,” the Taliban said at the time.

The loud explosion sent a plume of smoke rising into the sky, with ambulances and firefighters rushing to the scene, which was littered with charred debris. An employee said most of the dead worked for the channel’s graphics and dubbing departments.



“The enemy of humanity, peace and Islam martyred our colleagues because they were exposing their crimes,” Tolo news presenter Fawad Aman said in a live broadcast. “They martyred you to silence us, but they will never achieve this evil goal.”

Delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US had convened in the Afghan capital on Monday in a bid to negotiate the end to the 14-year Taliban insurgency.



The first round of the so-called “roadmap” talks was held in Islamabad, Pakistan, last week as the four countries try to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between Kabul and the Islamist group.

Taliban representatives were notably absent in both rounds and analysts cautioned that any substantive talks are still a long way off.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks on government and foreign targets in Afghanistan this winter, when fighting usually abates, underscoring a worsening security situation.

Observers say the intensifying insurgency highlights a push by the militants to seize more territory in an attempt to wrangle greater concessions during talks.

At last week’s talks, an Afghan government spokesman said Pakistan would unveil a list of Taliban members who are ready for talks, but no names have been released.

Pakistan – the Taliban’s historic backers – hosted a milestone first round of talks directly with the Taliban in July. But the negotiations stalled when the insurgents belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar, sparking infighting within the group.

Afghanistan sees the support of Pakistan as vital to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.

The four-country group is set to hold the next round of discussions on 6 February in Islamabad.