Najma Sadeqi, 20, a journalism student and YouTuber has died during the ISIS-orchestrated suicide bombing outside Kabul’s international airport, CNN reports.
13 American servicemen and at least 169 Afghans died in the terror attack, with 200 more wounded.
The Biden administration attributed the attack to ISIS-K, the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate. On Thursday evening, the organization claimed responsibility for the bombings.
2–year-old Sadeqi had recently started working as a correspondent with the YouTube channel Afghan Insider. The news channel has about 25 million views on its videos which follow young people living in Afghanistan.
According to CNN, two of Sadeqi’s colleagues, Rohina Afshar and Khawja Samiullah Sediqi confirmed her death.
Sadeqi’s colleagues also said they feared for young people following their career path in Afghanistan, adding that they do not have a job anymore and were too scared to leave their houses in case they were recognized.
“I don’t know how can we survive this situation,” Afshar said.
At the time of this writing, the videos on Sadeqi’s channel are no longer available to view. But CNN reported that she recorded a video four days after the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan where she said her goodbyes.
“Since we are not allowed to work and go out of our homes, we all had to record you a last video,” Sadeqi said in the video. “And through this video say goodbye to you all.”
In the video, Sadeqi said that life in Kabul had become very hard, that she fears walking outside on the street, and asked her subscribers to pray for her.
“I wish it is a bad dream, I wish we can wake up one day,” Sadeqi said. “But I know that it is not possible.”
“And it is a reality that we are finished,” she said.
According to her colleague, dozens of young, talented Afghan people had started working for YouTube channels in recent years “not only to make a living but to find a platform to prove themselves and the progress Afghans had made in the last two decades.”
“But in the last couple of weeks, everything changed,” the colleague said. “We stopped producing new stuff, we are scared of being targeted, intimidated, or harmed.”
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