At least 16 killed in attack in Afghanistan
JALALABAD, Afghanistan: At least 16 people were killed in a suicide attack yesterday on a construction company in eastern Afghanistan, an official said, the latest bloody assault in the wartorn country.
The hours-long assault in Jalalabad began yesterday when at least two blasts were heard, an AFP reporter said, before security forces rushed to the scene in the city, which is the capital of Nangarhar province.
“Sixteen employees of the company have been killed and nine more injured,” provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP.
A second official said there had been casualties but could not immediately verify the toll.
“All five attackers have been killed by security forces,” Khogyani added.
He said a clearance operation was ongoing with security defusing two suicide vests, one car bomb, and multiple mines planted by the attackers.
Sixteen employees of the company have been killed and nine more injured.
“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.
“A number of civilian workers of the company have been killed,” he added.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Both the Islamic State group and the Taliban are active in Nangarhar province.
The bombings come as US and Taliban negotiations continue to hold ongoing 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 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.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during an exchange with high school students in Iowa he hoped sufficient gains would be made for him to be able to take a trip to help advance the negotiations ‘in a couple weeks’.
The continuation of the talks follows a major attack on a joint US-Afghan base in southwestern Afghanistan’s Helmand province last week, with at least 23 security forces killed in the hours-long assault on one of the largest military installations in the country. — AFP
Attaullah Khogyani, provincial spokesman