Attack claimed by Daesh on a jail compound in the Afghan city of Jalalabad killed at least three people and injured dozens, says an official
A wounded man receives treatment at a hospital after a suicide car bomb attack in the city of Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on August 2, 2020 Militants have stormed a prison in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least three people and shattering the relative calm of a ceasefire across the country.
An attack claimed by Daesh on a jail compound in the Afghan city of Jalalabad killed at least three people and injured dozens, triggering heavy fighting in which scores of prisoners escaped, an official said. Sohrab Qaderi, a provincial council member, said a huge car bomb explosion was followed by at least two smaller blasts outside the government-run prison, and that police then fought attackers who had taken up positions nearby. "At least three people were dead and 25 were injured in the ongoing clashes," Qaderi said. More than 50 prisoners escaped, and the death toll could rise, he added. The gunmen first set off an explosives-packed car near the prison and then opened fire on security guards at the facility in the city of Jalalabad, Attaullah Khogyani, the spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said. "A number of them have taken position in a market near the prison and are engaging the security forces," he said. "Fighting is continuing," he said, but added that government forces were in control of the situation.Tareq Arian, spokesman for the ministry said police and special forces have been deployed to the site.The Taliban denied they were involved in the assault, that came on the final day of a"This is not our attack. Our mujahideen are not yet authorised to carry out attacks," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP. The assault happened on the third and final day of a ceasefire between the Afghan government and the Taliban, when hundreds of Taliban prisoners were released in an attempt to make a final push for intra-Afghan peace talks. President Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban have both indicated that long-delayed negotiations could begin immediately after the Eid al Adha festival, which took place in Kabul on Thursday. The Taliban says it has freed all 1,000 Afghan prisoners it had pledged to release in a deal with the United States.Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar has seen regular attacks, several of them claimed by Daesh. On May 12, a suicide bomber killed 32 mourners at a funeral for a police commander in the province in one of the deadliest attacks this year.Afghanistan's intelligence service said the country's special forces killed a high-ranking official with the local Daesh group affiliate in an operation near Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. A statement late on Saturday by the National Directorate of Security said the slain militant was Assadullah Orakzai, an intelligence leader for the Daesh affiliate in Afghanistan. Orakzai was suspected of being involved in several deadly attacks against both military and civilian targets in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has seen a recent spike in violence, with most attacks claimed by the local Daesh affiliate.Still, a UN report last week said Afghanistan saw a 13 percent drop in the number of civilians killed and wounded in violence across the country in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period last year. The report credited the drop in casualties in part to the reduction of operations by international forces — which now only act when called upon and in support of the Afghan forces — and also to a decrease in the number of attacks by Daesh. The report said the UN had recorded 17 attacks by Daesh that caused civilian casualties during the first six months of 2020, down from 97 attacks in the same period last year. Overall, the UN said 1,282 people were killed in violence in the first six months of 2020 in Afghanistan and 2,176 were wounded. Another UN report last month estimated there are around 2,200 Daesh members in Afghanistan, and said that while its leadership has been depleted, Daesh still counts among its leaders a Syrian national Abu Said Mohammad al Khorasani. The report also said the monitoring team had received information that two senior Daesh commanders, Abu Qutaibah and Abu Hajar al Iraqi, had recently arrived in Afghanistan from the Middle East. “Although in territorial retreat, [Daesh] remains capable of carrying out high-profile attacks in various parts of the country, including Kabul. It also aims to attract Taliban fighters who oppose the agreement with the United States,” the report said, referring to a US peace deal signed with the Taliban in February.was struck to allow the US to end its 19-year involvement in Afghanistan, and calls on the Taliban to guarantee its territory will not be used by terrorist groups. The deal is also expected to guarantee the Taliban’s all-out participation in the fight against Daesh. In March, a lone Daesh gunman rampaged through a Sikh house of worship in the heart of the Afghan capital, killing 25 worshipers and wounding eight. The gunman held many worshipers hostage for several hours while Afghan special forces, helped by international troops, tried to clear the building. At least one of the dead was a child.
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