Archive · 2019 · From the print edition of Monday 4 March 2019, Vol. 26, No. 8,131
NewsBomb outside IradOne kills driver, injures presenter
A bomb under the car of the OneDebate presenter Aisulu Zhaksybekova exploded outside the Alikhan Media Center yesterday. Her driver was killed. She is in the Regional Hospital.
TALAS — A bomb exploded under a car outside the Alikhan Media Center, the IradOne building in central Talas, shortly after half past seven yesterday evening, killing the driver and seriously injuring Aisulu Zhaksybekova, the presenter of IradOne's current-affairs programme OneDebate, who was in the back seat.
The driver, a 52-year-old man from Talas who had driven for the company for eleven years, died at the scene. Mrs. Zhaksybekova, 44, was taken to the Regional Hospital, where doctors said last night that she had undergone surgery and that her life was not in danger. Two passers-by were treated for cuts from broken glass and released.
The Gendarmerie closed the streets around the building until after midnight. A spokesman said the device had been placed under the car while it was parked in the street before the evening broadcast, and that a criminal case had been opened for murder and terrorism. No group had claimed the attack by last night.
OneDebate, which Mrs. Zhaksybekova has presented since its launch, went off the air in mid-programme and IradOne showed a still card for the rest of the evening. In a statement the IradOne Media Group called the attack "an attempt to silence the conversation Irad has every night" and said the programme would return. The Governor's office said those responsible would be found "wherever they hide".