AFGHANISTAN: 3 DEAD IN ATTACK ON TRAINING CENTRE

KABUL:AT least three people were killed after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives vest, paving the way for another attacker to charge into a training center for midwives in the capital of Nangarhar province, a provincial official said on Saturday.

Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the three victims, two security guards and a driver, were killed in the first attack near the centre’s gate.

He added that seven others, including three security forces, two civilians and two government employees, were wounded in the attack in Jalalabad city, the capital of the eastern Nangarhar province.

It was not immediately clear how many people sustained wounds from the shooting by the attacker inside the building and how many from the bomb, but an investigation is underway, added Khogyani.

The second attacker was not able to detonate his explosives vest and was shot by security forces. “More than 60 students, teachers and other employees were rescued form the building by the Afghan security forces,” said Khogyani.

The battle between the attacker and security forces lasted almost six hours, added Khogyani, because “the forces had to rescue every individual from the building,”

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but both Taliban insurgents and fighters from the local affiliate of the Islamic State group are active in eastern Afghanistan, especially in Nangarhar.

Some of the people inside the centre escaped while others were taken hostage by the gunmen.