A suspected suicide car bomber detonated explosives outside the Save the Children charity’s office in the Afghan town of Jalalabad this morning, before gunmen entered the building and opened fire with machine guns.
At least five people were killed and dozens injured, Reuters reports. Around 50 people were in the compound when the attack began.
According to The Daily Telegraph, an employee hiding inside the building sent a WhatsApp message to a friend, saying:“I can hear two attackers... They are looking for us. Pray for us... inform the security forces.”
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The attack began at about 9am local time, when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to the British aid agency’s compound, Ataullah Khogyani, a provincial government spokesperson, told the BBC.
“The fighting has ended,” Khogyani reportedly told Agence France-Presse. “The security forces are clearing the building now.”
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, via its self-appointed news agency, Amaq. The terror group describing the targets as “British and Swedish institutes”, reports Al Jazeera, citing the Pajhwok Afghan News agency.
Television footage showed a vehicle engulfed in smoke, The Guardian reports. Afghanistan’s TOLO news channel showed dozens of what it said were Afghan special forces members at the scene.
Sohrab Qaderi, a provincial council member for Ningarhar, said Afghan special forces had battled two or three attackers armed with hand grenades, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Save the Children bosses said they were “devastated” by the attack today. They have suspended its operations temporarily and closed their Afghanistan offices, Reuters says.
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