Abdul Manan Arghand, a reporter with the privately owned Kabul News television channel, was shot and killed by two unknown gunmen at approximately 9 a.m. on April 25, 2018, while driving to work in Kandahar, Afghanistan, according to RFE/RL and TOLO News.
No group claimed responsibility for the shooting, TOLO News reported at the time. According to RFE/RL, police are investigating the killing.
Arghand, 30, had received threatening anonymous phones calls in relation to his reporting for about a year prior to his death, Abdul Mujeeb Khalvatgar, managing director of the independent group Nai Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan told CPJ.
Javed Ahmad Tanvir, head of the Kandahar Press Club, told RFE/RL that the organization had informed Kandahar police, the provincial governor, and other officials about the threats to Arghand.
CPJ was unable to reach the authorities to confirm this.
About one month prior to the journalist’s death, Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry sent a letter to local police in Kandahar, which stated that the Taliban had marked Arghand as a target for assassination, according to the document, which was seen by CPJ.
Khalvatgar told CPJ that Arghand was killed in an area that was typically considered safe.
Arghand reported on current affairs, according to Khalvatgar.