Jalalabad: At least 16 people were killed in a suicide attack on Wednesday on a construction company in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, the latest bloody assault in the war-torn country.
The hours-long attack in Jalalabad began early on Wednesday when two suicide bombers detonated explosives at the gate of the compound, allowing three others to enter the area where they went on a killing spree, provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said.
Security forces rushed to the city, which is the capital of Nangarhar province. “Sixteen employees of the company have been killed and nine more injured,” the spokesman said, adding the attack began at 5:00 am local time.
A spokesman with Afghanistan’s interior ministry confirmed the account and toll. “All five attackers have been killed by security forces,” Khogyani added. Nangarhar provincial council member Ajmal Omar put the death toll slightly higher, saying 18 people had been killed with three of the nine injured in a critical condition.
Health workers pored over the injured in a nearby hospital, with bloody bandages covering their wounds.
Spokesman Khogyani added that a clearance operation was ongoing with security defusing two suicide vests, a car bomb, and multiple mines planted by the attackers. “Armed suicide bombers attacked and managed to enter the building of a private construction company early this morning,” said Nangarhar Provincial council member Zabihullah Zmarai.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but both the IS group and the Taliban are active in Nangarhar province. The Taliban later denied involvement.
“The Jalalabad attack has nothing to do with us,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. The attack came as US and Taliban negotiations continue to hold peace talks in Qatar aimed at ending the nearly 18-year conflict. Despite a two-day break before the weekend, negotiations continue on “a daily basis right now and progress is being made”, US State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told journalists on Tuesday.
“These discussions are ongoing and what we’re focusing on are the four interconnected issues that are going to compose any future agreement,” Palladino said — listing them as terrorism, troop withdrawal, intra-Afghan dialogue and ceasefire.
— AFP
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