Terror at the TV Station Our World

Maximum security in downtown Kabul. But this isn't an army base or

foreign embassy. I've come to the headquarters of Tolo TV.

Afghanistan's most popular broadcaster. These defensive

measures might seem extreme, but they are necessary. How you? Tolo TV

has been and remains a target of terrorist violence.

How can an independent TV station function amidst death threats and

bombs? This is the Tolo TV news meeting. In

the hot seat of one of the most dangerous journalistic beats in the

world is this man. His 29 years old, and there is a lot of responsibility

on the shoulders. And this is Shakila Ebrahimkhil, one

of his most experienced correspondents. She is a widow. Her

husband was killed by the Taliban. She is raising their three children

alone. Shakila Ebrahimkhil made a name for

herself for covering dozens of suicide bombings over the years.

Speaking to families of the dead and interviewing wounded survivors is

harrowing. But she has received death threats from Islamist

militants for her work. Shakila Ebrahimkhil is off on

another assignment. The independent Afghan women's Association are

funding schools in poor neighbourhoods.

We're not yet back in Kabul, and she is already trying to set up another

story about political violence and corruption.

In the foothills above Kabul, stands the Intercontinental Hotel. Today it

is being guided by a squad of commandos acres inside something

very special is taking place. -- because.

CHEERING Tolo TV don't just to news. They

also run the country's most popular entertainment programmes. Their top

rating show is Afghan Star. It has been condemned by the Taliban for

the rootless and in relative. -- lewdness and in relative. They might

well have been thinking about this one.

CHEERING Aryana Sayeed, one of the judges on

Afghan Star, and a celebrity in her own right. She reads in London, had

moved to Kabul for six months to record the show -- lives. I have a

lot of fans in Afghanistan. They like to see me on their TV screens

on a regular basis, and since I cannot have a concert for them

because of the security reasons, I thought it is a good opportunity to

do something for them through this show, and tried to bring a smile on

their faces. But on January 20 this year, halfway through filming Afghan

Star, Tolo TV became the story. Early that evening, the minibus left

the main Tolo TV compound to drive staff home to the distant Kabul

suburbs. On-board was this news cameramen.

The minibus, which had made a detour to pick up even more staff from the

Afghan Star said, was being trailed by a telephone death squad -- set.

-- Taliban death squad. Suddenly a suicide bomber rammed the

minibus, detonating a car of exposes. -- carload of explosives.

We were actually on the set of Afghan Star and had just finished a

show. We heard the blast. It was so loud and so scary that we actually

thought it was happening right outside our gate probably. We

thought the Taliban are here and they would come in and attack us.

News of the bombing reached the Tolo TV headquarters, and they dutifully

reported it. At the time, nobody at Tolo TV

realised it was their own friends and colleagues that had been

attacked. Then the awful truth started to emerge. It was 515 in the

afternoon. I was in my office upstairs in a meeting. Our head of

news walked in and he said that there was a car bomb in the western

part of the city, and he said that it was asked. They took this out

through the emergency door, and when will going back to the hotel, on the

way, they told us the attack was on one of the Tolo TV cars, and 70

people have been hurt -- so many people. I started crying. We didn't

know who was dead. We didn't know who was injured. Back at the bomb

site, it was a coyote thing. -- chaotic scene.

Then we went to the hospital nearby, where our colleagues were taken. It

was the first time I could see something like that. Some of the

bodies were unrecognisable. They were beyond recognition. Some of our

wounded colleagues were in a terrible situation. I saw a kid in

one bed he was just a bypass and he was wounded and was crying. I

couldn't hold myself a stop I had to rush back outside. Seven Tolo TV

staff work or that night and almost 20 more were seriously injured.

Among the dead was a 22-year-old graphic artist. A close friend and

colleague of the TV news boss. That day I met with her, the graphic

artist, who was a very vibrant soul. She was wearing black. She passed

and said hello to me and I told her how beautiful she was that day. She

smiled, something which was part of her character, and a few hours later

we realised she was no longer part of us. She was going to be promoted

to head of the graphics department very soon. I will be one of the

first female employees who would be promoted to a bigger level. So it is

a must for us and for her family and to Afghanistan. -- loss.

Shakila Ebrahimkhil takes me to meet some of her colleagues. In the

graphics department is a makeshift shrine.

But why did the Taliban attack Tolo TV? September last year at the

insurgents overran the northern city of Kunduz. During the fighting, Tolo

TV reported that Taliban fighters had raped women in hostels at the

local university. This story turned out to be wrong. Amnesty

International documented allegations that Taliban fighters had raped

women in Kunduz but not at the University because it was shot. The

channel's bosses say they clarified this in a later report but it didn't

help. The Taliban issued a furious official threat, describing Tolo TV

with a satanic network that was now a legitimate target. This was

actually the fourth time that militants had threatened the network

for its programming. At the Taliban targeting us was always a question

of time. We represent civil society, we represent women's rights, we

represent a more moderate version of Islam. We are believers in

democracy. Freedom of expression, all the things that Taliban don't

like. So I am not sure for how long we could have kept them at bay but

it was always inevitable. This Tolo TV footage shows airing on a singing

in the national football stadium in Kabul last year -- Ariana. She

received threats for this performance and end-user security

concerns, such an event might never be sanctioned today. For Ariana,

everything changed after the attack on her colleagues. In this footage,

her manager filmed her in their hotel trying on a bulletproof vest.

They actually have given this to me to where when I'm going around in

Kabul and when I am going to the set to record. How funny is this? Being

a singer in Afghanistan, I feel like I'm going to war actually. This is

ridiculous and it's kind of heavy as well. But yeah, what to do? How do I

look, by the way? I was a target. A direct target, you would say.

They're going to attack Ariana, they're going to kill her and stuff

like that. I do get scared. But you know what, I feel like this is the

path that I've chosen and I don't want to just leave it halfway I have

to finish it somehow. The day after the finale of Afghan Star, Ariana's

work here was over and she flew out of Afghanistan. This is an option

that is not available to most people there. But the news never stops.

Back at the Tolo TV canteen, Cecchinato is busy setting up a

story about the Afghan new year. She has got access to the couple trauma

hospital. She is famous for covering the aftermath of terrorist attacks

and the medics here know her well. If there is a big blast in the city

and casualties come in from the provinces, they come here and she

follows all the stories most of the time when there is a big blast. The

press come here but she is the first one. Just in Kabul in 2015, we have

seen 3200 people. Wow. It is the worst number we have ever faced in

the history of emergencies in Afghanistan. And we're talking about

16 years after the international forces coming here. So when

Afghanistan was supposed to be at peace. But the situation is still so

bad. Shakila has taken me to the ward where the most critically

wounded bomb victims are treated. She has come here to record their

New Year's messages to the military. Oh, it is awful. This

little boys in grades four and he has just had a major operation. It

was a suicide bombing of some sort in the centre of Kabul and he has

lost his leg. He is in utter pain. To grief in this room is

unbelievable. -- the. In mid April, the Taliban detonated

a huge bomb in central Kabul, killing more than 60 people and

wounding hundreds. The next day, the Taliban renewed their threats

against all media outlets in Afghanistan. It is a chilling

reminder of the dangers journalists in this country face every single

day.