(KABUL, Afghanistan) — A group of gunmen stormed a non-governmental children’s organization in eastern Nangarhar province, killing one person, said provincial officials.
Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the Wednesday attack was against Save the Children’s provincial office in Jalalabad.
Inamullah Miakhial, spokesman for Nangarhar regional hospital, said one person was killed and at least 14 wounded were brought to the hospital. The casualty count might rise as a gun battle was still underway, he said.
The attack started with a suicide bomber and was followed by gunfire, said Khogyani.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said the Taliban was not involved in the attack; both Taliban insurgents as well as Islamic State group fighters are active in eastern Nangarhar province.
The attack follows a deadly weekend siege of the Intercontinental Hotel in the capital Kabul in which 22 people were killed, including 14 foreigners. Multiple U.S. citizens were killed and injured in the Taliban’s 13-hour siege of the hotel, the State Department said Tuesday. No exact figures were immediately available for either the U.S. fatalities or injuries.
Eleven of the 14 foreigners had been previously identified as working for the private Afghan airline KamAir. During a ceremony at Kabul’s airport Wednesday the bodies of seven Ukrainian citizens were handed over to officials for transfer to Ukraine.
Mirwais Samadi, head of the consulate department of the Afghanistan Foreign Ministry, said the attack was launched by “terrorists” and their supporters.
“Some of our countrymen were martyred and some foreign nationals also were killed,” he said. “We express our condolences and thoughts to the victims and families. ”
In eastern Ghazni province, meanwhile, four Afghan police were killed after their checkpoint came under an attack by insurgents, said Arif Noori, spokesman for the provincial governor.
Six insurgents were killed and three were wounded in the battle, which took place early morning Wednesday in Dayak district, said Noori.