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Afghanistan: gunmen storm government building in eastern city Afghanistan: gunmen storm government building in eastern city
(about 5 hours later)
Gunmen have stormed a government building in Afghanistan’s eastern city of Jalalabad and taken hostages, after a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance gate. Suicide attackers killed at least 15 people and injured another 15 when they stormed government offices in eastern Afghanistan, and took dozens of hostages during an hours-long standoff with security forces.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though Isis issued a statement denying involvement. Three attackers arrived at the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations just after midday on Tuesday, and a bomber launched the attack by detonating his explosives at the heavily guarded entrance.
One witness, a passerby named Obaidullah, said the attack began when a black car with three occupants pulled up at the entrance to a building used by the department of refugee affairs. A gunman emerged and began firing. That allowed the two other gunmen to rush inside, where a group of charities were meeting to discuss support for Afghans returning from Pakistan, where many have lived as refugees for decades.
One attacker blew himself up at the gate and two gunmen entered the building, which is in an area close to shops and government offices. Minutes later, the car blew up, wounding people in the street, Obaidullah said. “More than 40 people were at the conference, to make decisions about people who are coming back to Afghanistan,” said Niloofar Aziz, a member of the provincial council.
“We saw several people wounded and helped to carry them away,” he said. The attack in Jalalabad came as 11 people were killed by a roadside bomb on the other side of Afghanistan, when a minibus in western Farah drove over explosives.
Eight wounded were taken to city hospitals, officials said. With fighting still ongoing, the number of casualties was likely to climb. Overall 2018 has been a bloody year for Afghan civilians, with nearly 1,700 killed in the first six months of the year, according to the United Nations. That is the highest rate since the UN began keeping records nearly a decade ago.
As security forces cordoned off the area, gunshots and what were thought to be grenade explosions could be heard and a cloud of black smoke drifted into the sky. Also on Tuesday, unknown attackers seized 22 people from vehicles on a highway in the east, Reuters reported.
Sohrab Qaderi, a member of the local provincial council, said about 40 people appeared to be caught inside the building, which caught fire early in the attack. In Jalalabad the head of the ministry for refugees and several other people were taken to safety, but at least one group inside the building were captured by the attackers, said Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor.
He said one hostage had called the security services, saying the attackers had ordered people within not to move. “The latest numbers are 15 killed and 15 injured. They include one woman and one member of the security forces,” he said.
A provincial government spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, said a “large number” of employees had been rescued after the attack, which happened during a meeting with NGOs working on refugee-related issues. The head of the department and several other people were taken to safety, he said. The killings were not immediately claimed, but the Taliban were quick to deny responsibility. “Today’s explosion and attacks near public health office of Jalalabad city have nothing to do with the [Taliban],” its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.
Although it is unclear whether there is any direct connection, there has been an increase in Isis attacks as hopes for peace talks between the government and the Taliban have grown in the wake of a three-day ceasefire last month. Although the Taliban are not always reliable in seeking or denying attribution for their own attacks, eastern Afghanistan has endured a string of bloody attacks by the regional branch of Islamic State.
The attacks have been concentrated in Jalalabad, the main city of Nangarhar province, on the border with Pakistan where Isis fighters first appeared towards the end of 2014. Many have been in and around Jalalabad, gateway both to Pakistan and to lawless mountain regions that have long been a base for some of the most extreme insurgents fighting in Afghanistan. The regional Isis affiliate first appeared around here in 2014.
The casualties add to a mounting toll in Afghanistan. In the western province of Farah, 11 people were killed when their bus was hit by a roadside bomb, officials said. Esmatullah Shinwary, a local MP, said he was particularly worried about the spread of the regional Isis branch.
Also on Tuesday, unknown attackers seized 22 people from vehicles on a highway linking Kabul and Gardez, a key city in the eastern province of Paktia. “Everywhere in the country, especially in Nangarhar province, the government is just trying to save its checkpoints and has a defensive attitude, they have no plan to attack,” he said.
“Isis rose from some small frontier districts at first but the government didn’t care much and now it has activities all over the eastern provinces and even beyond. If the government doesn’t take serious action, Isis will spread further around Afghanistan.”
Attacks the group have claimed include one in Jalalabad in June. It killed at least 25, at a time when the rest of the country was celebrating a brief ceasefire between the Taliban and government forces.
AfghanistanAfghanistan
South and Central AsiaSouth and Central Asia
Taliban
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