Kabul's Shamshad TV station under siege as militants storm building; Taliban denies involvement

Kabul: Gunmen stormed a television station in Kabul on Tuesday and many staff were still in the building, an employee told AFP, describing the attack as “ongoing”. “I saw three attackers on security cameras entering the TV station building. They first shot the guard and then entered the building. They started throwing grenades and firing,” said Shamshad TV reporter Faisal Zaland, who escaped through a back door. [caption id=“attachment_4197377” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Kabul has been rocked by a series of deadly attacks in recent weeks. AP[/caption] Shamshad TV, a Pashto language station that broadcasts nationwide, was transmitting a holding image instead of its normal programming. Zaland told AFP that security forces were in the area of the Shamshad compound in the Afghan capital “trying to bring down the attackers”. “Many of my colleagues are still in the building,” he added. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied the militant group was involved in the attack in a Twitter post. The interior ministry told AFP it was investigating the incident but had no further details. Kabul has been rocked by a series of deadly attacks in recent weeks as the Taliban and Islamic State insurgents step up offensives against security installations and mosques. Last Tuesday, a suicide bomber, believed to have been as young as 12, struck Kabul’s heavily fortified diplomatic quarter and killed at least five people, showing that militants can still hit the heart of the city despite tighter security. Security in Kabul has been ramped up since a truck bomb went off on the edge of the so-called ‘Green Zone’ on 31 May, killing around 150 people and wounding 400 others. Special truck scanners, barriers and permanent and mobile checkpoints have been rolled out across the city. The last major assault in Kabul was on 21 October, when a suicide attacker hit a busload of Afghan army trainees, killing 15. On 20 October, a suicide bomber pretending to be a worshiper blew himself up inside a Shia mosque in the city during evening prayers, killing 56 and wounding 55. Earlier this month, the police stopped a lorry carrying 2,700 kilograms of explosives hidden under boxes of tomatoes in Kabul, averting a potentially deadly blast.