Suicide bombers storm state broadcaster in Afghanistan

Suicide bombers stormed Afghanistan's national television and radio station in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, triggering a gunfight as journalists remained trapped inside the building, officials said.

At least two people were killed and 14 others wounded in the ongoing assault, which underscores the growing dangers faced by media workers in Afghanistan.

"Four attackers entered the RTA (Radio Television Afghanistan) building this morning. Two blew themselves up and two others are still resisting," government spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP. He had earlier said there were three attackers.

"At least two civilians have been killed and 14 others wounded so far," Kohgyani said, with a health worker telling AFP that many of those brought to hospital suffered gunshot wounds.

An RTA photographer said he fled the building as soon as the gunfight erupted, but some of his colleagues were still stuck inside. An AFP reporter near the scene of the attack also heard two explosions.

Wednesday's attack marks the latest militant assault on an Afghan media organisation.

Afghanistan suffered its deadliest year on record for journalists in 2016, according to the Afghan Journalists' Safety Committee (AJSC), adding that the country is the second most dangerous for reporters in the world after Syria.

Last year, at least 13 journalists were killed, AJSC said, claiming that the Taliban was behind at least ten of the deaths.

In January last year, seven employees of popular TV channel Tolo - which is often critical of the insurgents - were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul in what the militant group said was revenge for "spreading propaganda" against them.

It was the first major attack on an Afghan media organisation since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001 and spotlighted the dangers faced by media workers in Afghanistan as the security situation worsens amid a growing wave of militant attacks.