KABUL, 22 December, 2020, (TON): Afghan Journalist Rahmatullah Nekzad was shot dead by unknown assailants using a silenced pistol while walking to a nearby mosque, a police spokesman said.

He is the fifth journalist killed in the last two months in the country. 

Nekzad was head of the Ghazni Journalists' Union, he had worked on a freelance basis for the Associated Press news agency and the Al Jazeera broadcast network, according to the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee.

Arrested at various times by the United States, the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents, his peers said he prided himself in telling all sides of a story. He is survived by six children.

The killing of prominent Afghan journalist Rahmatullah Nekzad draw strong condemnation in Afghanistan, with the country's president Ashraf Ghani calling it a "terrorist attack."

The international press freedom group Reporters Without Borders has called Afghanistan one of the world's deadliest countries for reporters.

The Afghan Journalists' Safety Committee said at least seven media personnel have been killed this year, including two journalists killed in separate bombings last month. Nekzad was the fifth journalist to be killed in the past two months.

The war imposed and constant abuses by warlords constitute a permanent threat to journalists, the media and press freedom in Afghanistan.