SUICIDE ATTACK ON AFGHANISTAN EDUCATION DEPT KILLS 12

JALALABAD : Suicide bombers targeted an Education Department building in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, striking the commercial hub for the second time in 24 hours and killing at least 12 people.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series of strikes on educational sites in the province. But suspicions quickly fell on the Islamic State group, which has a foothold in the region and has announced its plans to attack schools in retaliation for airstrikes and other military operations that have killed its fighters.

Gen Ghulam Sanayee Stanekzai, the police chief of Nangarhar province, which includes Jalalabad, said that a single assailant had shot and killed guards at the precinct’s Education Department before detonating explosives hidden in a vest. But a spokesman for the governor later said there had been three assailants.

“In addition to the three attackers, 12 people were killed, including two security members of the Afghan security forces,” said the spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani. Nine others were wounded.

A suicide attack at a security checkpoint in the Khales Family area of Jalalabad on Tuesday killed at least eight civilians and two security officers, Khogyani said.

“The attacker detonated his explosives as the vehicles were lined up to be searched,” said Faqir Mohammed, who witnessed the earlier strike. “Many of the civilians were burned in their vehicles.” Nangarhar lies along Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, and Islamic State group fighters in the area continue to threaten to stage brutal attacks in the provincial capital, even amid operations by Afghan commandos as well as US airstrikes.