|
Foreign journalists injured in failed kidnap attempt
By Riaz
Ahmad
PESHAWAR: Two foreign
journalists were shot injured in Hyatabad Friday afternoon.
An Afghan and Japanese
reporters, identified as Sami Yousafzai and Yotsukara Motoki
respectively, who were on their way back from Shah Kas, Khyber
Agency were intercepted by four armed men who tried to abduct
them. The local driver of the journalists, however, sped the
vehicle on which the armed men opened fire at them, injuring all
the three.
Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper
said its reporter, Yotsukara Motoki and his friend, a
correspondent of The News Line magazine, who were preparing a
report on the Taliban militants in Khyber Agency, were shot.
Police said that the incident
did not take place in the settled part of the district and the
journalists had gone to Khyber Agency to meet militants who had
abducted several trucks bound for Kabul a week earlier.
The Asahi Shimbun, one of
Japan's most influential newspapers, said that a group of four
people approached the car and one shot right through the door.
It said its correspondent,
Motoki, 32, received first aid at Hyatabad Medical Complex and
was being shifted to Islamabad for treatment.
"They were on the way to report
on people associated with Taliban when they were attacked. There
was no clear picture of who the culprits are," an Asahi
spokesman said in Tokyo.
Neither journalist's life was at
risk, he said.
Dr Shamshad in HMC told the
Statesman that both the journalists were in stable condition and
the Japanese had been hit in right leg while the Afghan reporter
had been hit on chest and arms who was shifted to cardiothorasic
ward in LRH for further treatment.
Both journalists and their
driver, identified as Nadeem were rushed to HMC from where Sami
Yousafzai was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital (LRH).
Police said they had gone into
the tribal belt without permission and conducted some interviews
with militants before they were attacked. |