Three killed, 24 injured as suicide car bomb and gunmen attack prison in east Afghanistan

Kabul: A suicide car bomb and multiple gunmen attacked a prison in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, Afghan officials said, killing at least three people and injuring 24 others. The gunbattle between Afghan security forces and insurgents in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, was still ongoing Sunday evening, and casualties were likely to rise, according to Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor. Tariq Arian, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said at least three people were killed, while Zahir Adil, the spokesman for the provincial Health Ministry, provided the figure of 24 wounded. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but both the Taliban and the local affiliate of the Islamic State group are active in eastern Afghanistan. The IS affiliate is headquartered in Nangarhar province. Sunday’s attack comes a day after the Afghan intelligence agency said a senior Islamic State commander was killed by Afghan special forces near Jalalabad. The Taliban’s political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press, “We have a cease-fire and are not involved in any of these attacks anywhere in the country, but said he was not aware of the details of the Jalalabad attack.” The Taliban declared a three-day cease-fire starting Friday for the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. The Taliban had also denied involvement in a suicide bombing in the eastern Logar province late Thursday, which killed at least nine people and wounded at least 40, authorities said. Afghanistan has seen a recent spike in violence, with most attacks claimed by the local IS affiliate.

A United Nations report last month estimated there are around 2,200 Islamic State members in Afghanistan, and that while its leadership has been depleted, the group remains capable of carrying out high-profile attacks in various parts of the country, including Kabul.

Efforts to get peace talks underway between the Taliban and the Kabul government have stalled after the Taliban and the US signed a deal in February, seen as a blueprint to ending Afghanistan’s decades of war. That deal was struck to allow the US to end its 19-year involvement in Afghanistan, and calls on the Taliban to guarantee its territory will not be used by terrorist groups. The deal is also expected to guarantee the Taliban’s all-out participation in the fight against Islamic State.