String of attacks rattles Afghanistan
KABUL — Islamic State gunmen stormed a partially constructed building near an intelligence training centre in the Afghan capital on Monday, triggering a gun battle with security forces.
Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the fighting ended when Afghan security forces shot and killed the three attackers without suffering any casualties.
He said the gunmen, who launched their assault with a car bomb and rocket-propelled grenades, appear to have been wearing police uniforms. The militants took up positions at the construction site in order to fire down on the training centre.
A powerful Islamic State affiliate has emerged in Afghanistan in recent years that is largely made up of disgruntled former Taliban insurgents. The group is not as large or well-entrenched as the Taliban, but has carried out a number of deadly attacks. Islamic State has also clashed with the Taliban. The two groups are fiercely divided over ideology, tactics and leadership.
In another attack on Monday, in the southern Helmand province, a suicide car bomber struck a police convoy, killing two people and wounding 29 others, including civilians, said Abdul Salam Afghan, spokesman for the provincial police chief.
No one immediately claimed the attack, which took place in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.
In the eastern city of Mihterlam, capital of the Laghman province, two separate blasts killed an intelligence service agent and a civilian, according to Sarhadi Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor. Another six people were wounded in the second attack, including children. No one immediately claimed responsibility for either blast.
A Taliban attack on a police post in the western Badghis province on Sunday killed a police officer and wounded three others, said Gulam Haydar Sarwari, the province’s deputy police chief. The slain officer was the district police commander, he added.
Sarwari said the attack set off heavy clashes in which scores of Taliban attackers were driven away. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the Taliban, who regularly stage attacks across the country and have seized control of several districts