Herat (Afghanistan): A female Afghan journalist was stabbed and wounded today, authorities said, a day after unknown men threatened to kill her unless she quit her job at a local television station.

The information ministry said the attack on Nelofar Habibi, a 22-year-old journalist and television presenter in the western city of Herat, was conducted by the "enemies of Afghanistan" - a phrase used for anti-government groups.

She was in stable condition in hospital.

Habibi, employed by the government-owned Herat TV, had been threatened several times, said the television head Ihsamuddin Shams. "Today unknown people, including a woman, went to her home and as she opened the door she was stabbed in her abdomen," he told AFP. "The women stabbed her."

Yesterday, Habibi was cut on the arm with a razor blade allegedly by unknown men who she said had told her to stop working.

The ministry in Kabul said in a statement that Habibi had been "subjected today to beatings and was wounded." It did not give details but blamed the attack on "the enemies of Afghanistan and female journalists."

One month ago, grenades were thrown into the home of another female Herat journalist, radio talk show host Khadija Ahad, also apparently because of her job.

Two female journalists, one of them a TV presenter, died in mysterious attacks last year.

It was not clear if the killings were related to their work, but women are under pressure in Afghanistan where conservative Islamic circles, including the Taliban, believe they should not appear on television.

Source : PTI