Nine dead as bomb, gun battle rages in Afghan city

At least nine people were killed and more than 30 injured when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building on Sunday in a continuing attack in an eastern Afghan city, officials said.

A thick column of smoke rose into the sky after two explosions near Jalalabad’s directorate of finance, the Nangarhar provincial governor’s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP, adding that “a number of attackers” had entered the building.

“Security forces are in the area chasing and fighting them,” he said, adding that one attacker “is down” and the clearing operation was continuing.

“Around noon a big boom shook our building,” Qaisar told AFP from a Jalalabad hospital.

“I then saw at least two armed attackers entering the building. My friends ran to hide and I jumped from a window.

“I have broken my leg and arm but was able to get out of the building. Some of my friends are still stuck there.” The body of a policeman and eight civilians, along with 36 wounded people had been brought to hospitals in Jalalabad, said Dr Najibullah Kamawal, director of the city health department.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of restive Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. Some areas of the province are a stronghold of the Islamic State group but Taliban fighters are also active there.

It was the latest deadly violence to strike Afghanistan as militant groups step up attacks and US-backed Afghan forces intensify air strikes and ground offensives.