At least ten people were killed and more than 40 injured when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building Sunday in an hours-long attack in an eastern Afghan city claimed by the Islamic State group, officials said. The assault in the eastern city of Jalalabad 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.
It began around 12.50 pm (0820 GMT) when the militants detonated a car bomb at the entrance to the city finance department, "opening the way for a number of armed attackers to enter the building", Nangarhar provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP. Terrified employees flung themselves from windows to escape as security forces battled the attackers for more than four hours, before all eight assailants were killed, Khogyani said.
Earlier, he said the attack had been carried out by four attackers and that there had been two explosions. He later said the heavily-armed militants were also carrying grenades. "Two attackers were killed by their own car bomb blast. Six attackers were killed by security forces. Ten civilians and security forces were killed and 42 wounded," Khogyani said.