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| Afghanistan | |
| Blasts heard inside Afghan state TV compound in Jalalabad after gunmen attack | |
| 2017-05-18 | |
| [RT] Gunmen attacked an Afghan TV station in eastern Jalalabad, starting a firefight with security forces, according to local authorities. At least 10 people, including the attackers, were killed in the clashes and 18 more injured, AP cited officials as saying. Officials say three suicide attackers came into the National Radio Television in Afghanistan (RTA) in Jalalabad in Nangarhar and two detonated themselves. “We can confirm that a number of insurgents have entered the building. Who they are, and what their target is, is still not clear,” Attaullah Khughyani, the provincial governor’s spokesman said, as cited by Reuters. The attack left four Afghan state TV employees and two policemen dead, and at least 16 more injured. There could be up to 24 people injured, including 17 civilians and seven servicemen, according to local authorities, as cited by Al Jazeera. At least four attackers were killed in the shootout with Afghan security forces according to AP, citing Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish. IS has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the terrorist group's media agency. Some 40 people work in the compound every day and, while many managed to flee, some remain trapped inside, an RTA employee told TOLOnews.
IS group has established a stronghold in Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province bordering Pakistain, of which Jalalabad is capital, where it fights both the Taliban ...Arabic for students... and Afghan government forces. The raid on the RTA state broadcaster was carried out by four attackers, one of whom had detonated a suicide bomb at the entrance to the compound, said provincial governor Gulab Mangal. As the attack unfolded, heavy gunfire could be heard from around the RTA building, which is close to the governor's compound "[IS group] fighters are currently carrying out an attack inside the state broadcasting building in the city of Jalalabad," the movement's AMAQ news agency said in a statement on instant messaging service Telegram. The three others were killed by security forces in the shootout. Seventeen civilians and seven members of the security forces were maimed, he added. IS group has recently been hit hard by US air strikes and special forces operations. The head of IS group in Afghanistan, Abdul Hassib, was reported this month to have been killed in a joint Afghan-US operation in Nangarhar at the end of April. IS group has also grabbed credit for a series of high-profile attacks in the capital, Kabul, including one in March on Afghanistan's largest military hospital. | |
| Posted by:Fred |