An Afghan man walks along a path under snow-laden trees in Kabul on Feb. 5, 2017. (Photo: SHAH MARAI via Getty Images)
A bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday has left at least nine journalists dead, including Agence France Presse’s chief photographer in the country, Afghanistan, Shah Marai.
In a synchronized attack, the journalists were killed as they covered an earlier bombing that claimed the lives of at least 26 civilians at the National Directorate of Security and a second explosive was detonated.
Marai’s photos, syndicated by AFP through Getty Images, offered dark and sometimes uplifting images of the lives of the Afghan people. The archive of his photos shows that he captured moments that transcended the violence that has wracked the country for decades, like a tranquil snow-covered forest or a body-building competition. Yet, in an ironic twist, he also depicted the pain and anguish of family members grieving over those lost in the all-too-often bombing attacks.
Some of Marai’s best photos follow.
A boy holds a sheep as he waits for customers at a livestock market ahead of the Eid al-Adha Muslim festival on the outskirts of Kabul on Aug. 30, 2017.
A woman takes a photograph with her mobile phone as she and supporters attend the election rally of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah in Jalalabad on Feb. 18, 2014.
A man walks on a hillside path overlooking Kabul on March 21, 2018, the first day of Nowruz, or Persian New Year,
An Afghan health worker administers the polio vaccine to a child during a vaccination campaign in Kabul on Feb. 28, 2017.
Onlookers peer through the broken windows of a bakery at the site of a suicide car bomb near the international airport in Kabul on Dec. 28, 2015.
Afghan children play with plastic toy guns in Kabul on Aug. 8, 2013.
A vendor sells candy floss in Kabul on March 21, 2017, during Nowruz festivities that mark the Afghan New Year.
Mustafa, the 10-year-son of Afghan reporter Zabihullah Tamanna, is consoled as friends and relatives gather around his father's coffin in Kabul on June 7, 2016. Tamanna, a 38-year-old father of three, was killed alongside National Public Radio photojournalist David Gilkey in a Taliban ambush two days earlier.
Afghan security forces keep watch during a visit by Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah official visit to the Paktika province on Nov. 24, 2014.
Bodybuilders participate in the Mr. Afghanistan nationwide competition in Kabul on June 3, 2015. Bodybuilding is one of the country's most popular sports, even permitted during the 1996-2001 Taliban regime.
A man is seen through a broken glass at the Kabul house of a parliament member, Mir Wali, on Dec. 22, 2016. Eight people were killed when Taliban gunmen stormed the residence the day before, but Wali survived. The three assailants also were killed following a nearly 10-hour siege.
Voters line up at a polling station in Kabul on June 14, 2014.
A boy carries a sheep on his shoulders at a livestock market ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival in Kabul on Sept. 22, 2015.
Afghan amputees practice walking with their prosthetic legs on Feb. 13, 2018, at a hospital run by the International Committee of the Red Cross for war victims and the disabled in Kabul.
An Afghan National Army commando arrests men pretending to be Taliban fighters during a military exercise at the Kabul Military Training Center on the outskirts of Kabul on Oct. 17, 2017.
A man digs a grave for one of the 57 victims of a bomb blast on a voter registration center in Kabul on April 23, 2018.
An Afghan policeman watches as a cache of alcohol and drugs burns on the outskirts of Kabul on De. 20, 2016. Ninety-eight tons of opium, heroin, hashish and alcoholic drinks were set afire, officials said.
A man leads his cows as a rainbow forms in the background in Daykundi province on May 11, 2016.
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