A group of gunmen stormed a regional office of Save The Children in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province killing two people and injuring 14 others.
The attack led to the killing of a police officer and a civilian on the international aid organisation in Jalalabad, according to Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
The first insurgent unleashed a suicide style bombing while the second was killed by police and a third is still fighting.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">At least 11 wounded local media report in an ongoing attack near a Save the Children aid agency office in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad <a href="https://t.co/yFRqJm9ZrP">pic.twitter.com/yFRqJm9ZrP</a></p>— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TRTWorldNow/status/956049299774812162?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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A spokesman for Nangarhar regional hospital, Inamullah Miakhial, said at least 14 wounded were brought to the hospital. However, there’s a likelihood of the casualty increasing as the gun battle is still underway.
A statement unleashed by the Islamic State confirmed that the terror group was behind the incident. The group unveiled the news through its Aamaq news agency. It said that a bomber detonated an explosive-laden vehicle as a subsequent raid targeted "British and Swedish foundations and Afghan government institutes".
IS and the Taliban are both active in eastern Nangarhar province. According to Monica Zanarelli, the International Committee of the Red Cross' head of delegation in Afghanistan, said that an attack against an organisation that helps children is "outrageous". Adding that: "Civilians and aid workers must not be targeted. Increased violence has made operating in Afghanistan difficult for many organisations."
The incident comes after the deadly weekend siege of the Intercontinental Hotel in the capital Kabul in which 22 people were killed, including 14 foreigners. It’s reported that several US citizens were killed and injured in the Taliban's 13-hour siege of the hotel, the US state department said. 11 of the 14 foreigners had been previously identified as working for the private Afghan airline KamAir.
In the ceremony that took place at the Kabul airport today, the bodies of seven Ukrainian citizens were handed over to officials for transfer to Ukraine. The head of the consulate department of the Afghan foreign ministry, Mirwais Samadi, said the attack was launched by "terrorists" and their supporters.
Elsewhere in eastern Ghazni province, four Afghan police were killed after their checkpoint came under attack by insurgents. There are also 6 insurgents that were killed and three were wounded in the battle, which took place early this morning in Dayak district. A non-governmental children's organisation in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province has been attacked by gunmen.
Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the attack on Wednesday was against Save the Children's provincial office in Jalalabad. Inamullah Miakhial, spokesman for Nangahar regional hospital, said at least 11 wounded were brought to the hospital. Its alleged that the attack started with a suicide bomber followed by gunfire.
