KABUL: The Taliban struck several journalists to prevent media coverage of a women's rights protest in Kabul on Thursday. A group of about 20 women marched from near the ministry of education to the ministry of finance in the Afghan capital.

Wearing colourful headscarves they chanted slogans including: "Don't politicise education", as traffic drove by shortly before 10 am. The women held placards saying: "We don't have the rights to study and work", and" "Joblessness, poverty, hunger", as they walked with their arms in the air.

The Taliban authorities allowed the women to walk freely for around an hour and a half, AFP journalists saw. However, one foreign journalist was struck with the butt of a rifle by one Taliban fighter, who swore and kicked the photographer in the back as another punched him. At least two more journalists were hit as they scattered, pursued by Taliban fighters swinging fists and launching kicks.

Zahra Mohammadi, one of the protest organisers, told AFP the women were marching despite the risks they face. "The situation is that the Taliban don't respect anything: not journalists - foreign and local - or women," she said.