Kabul: A leading Afghan journalist is in
hospital after having acid sprayed in his face as he left his home in Kabul, officials said Wednesday.
Razaq Mamoon is a former television anchorman who
regularly appears on talk shows as a political analyst and is
also an author.
His comments are sometimes seen as hostile to
Afghanistan's biggest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, which
includes President Hamid Karzai and most Taliban leaders.
He was attacked leaving his apartment in the Afghan
capital yesterday, said Zemarai Bashary, a spokesman for the
interior ministry which handles police matters.
Mamoon was rushed to hospital after suffering 10 percent
burns to his face and hands, health ministry spokesman Kargar
Noorughli said.
Yesterday, the journalist was moved to a military
hospital for security reasons, Noorughli added.
Mamoon's books include one accusing a Pashtun politician
and ex-government official of masterminding the Taliban's
murder of former communist president Najibullah in 1996.
The Taliban tortured and executed Najibullah on the day
they took Kabul before displaying his mutilated body in a city
square.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 15:57