AN Islamic State group attack on a prison in eastern Afghanistan holding hundreds of its members raged on yesterday after killing at least 21 people in fighting overnight, a local official said. Another 43 people have been wounded in the attack that began late Sunday when an Islamic State suicide bomber slammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the prison entrance. More assailants opened fire. Three attackers have been killed so far but the battle continued yesterday with sporadic gunfire still coming from the prison grounds, said Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province. Some of the dead were prisoners, said Khogyani. as well as civilians, prison guards and Afghan security personnel. The prison assault struck Jalalabad, Nangarhar’s provincial capital some 115 kilometers east of the capital, Kabul. The Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan, known as IS in Khorasan province, claimed responsibility for the attack. The affiliate is headquartered in Nangarhar province. The motive of the attack wasn’t immediately clear. However, some prisoners have escaped during the fighting, said another provincial official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists. The prison houses about 1,500 inmates, of which several hundred are believed to belong to the Islamic State group affiliate in Afghanistan.(SD-Agencies) |