16 killed after militants set off suicide blast, storm construction firm near Jalalabad airport in Afghanistan

Kabul: An Afghan provincial spokesman said the death toll from a militant attack on a construction company near a main airport in the country’s east has risen to 16.

Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor in eastern Nangarhar province, said that along with the 16 killed, nine other people were wounded when the militants launched a suicide bombing and stormed a construction company near the airport outside Jalalabad, the provincial capital.

He said the attack started around 5 am and lasted until 10.30 am. Khogyani said there were five attackers, two of whom detonated their suicide vests while three others were shot and killed by the security forces.

He also said the fighting has ended but a clear-up operation is still underway. An Afghan official had earlier said that militants set off a suicide blast and stormed a construction company near the main airport in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province.

The province’s police chief, General Ghulam Sanayee Stanikzai, said the bomber, who was on foot, detonated his explosives at the gate of the company on Wednesday morning.

Stanikzai further said several other attackers then stormed inside the company. The police chief also said US forces have arrived at the scene. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in eastern Afghanistan, especially in Nangarhar province.