KABUL, Afghanistan — A squad of assailants, including gunmen and a suicide bomber, stormed a government building Wednesday in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, killing at least 11 people, in the latest of half a dozen deadly attacks in that region since mid-June. No group has asserted responsibility for the attack, but most of the others have been claimed by the Islamic State.
The morning attack on a busy education office building in the crowded provincial capital left several dozen officials and visitors trapped for hours while insurgents and security forces exchanged gunfire, officials and witnesses said. Ten other people were injured. A spokesman for the provincial governor’s office said the assault had ended but gave no details.
Wednesday’s attack came one day after a suicide bombing in Jalalabad, claimed by the Islamic State, killed 12 people, including several children who were working in a carwash, officials said. The bomber detonated near a gas station, setting off a large fire. Two people working for the national intelligence agency, which has offices nearby, were among the dead.
The spate of Islamic State attacks in the Jalalabad region and surrounding Nangahar province has come as U.S. and Afghan Special Operations forces have stepped up their joint counterterror campaign against the violent foreign-based insurgent group, which controls several districts of Nangahar near the Pakistan border.
