13 killed, dozens wounded in ongoing Jalalabad prison attack

Officials have confirmed that so far at least 13 people have been killed and dozens wounded in the ongoing prison attack in Jalalabad city by Daesh militants. 

Daesh Afghanistan claimed responsibility on Sunday night for the attack which started just after 6.30pm when a car bomb was detonated outside the prison gates. This blew open the entrance and enabled an unknown number of gunmen to storm the facility. 

Security sources said early Monday that clashes between the Daesh militants and Afghan special forces were still ongoing – 14 hours after the initial explosion. 

Reports also indicate that the gunmen have taken control of at least two of the prison towers.

Hundreds of prisoners have meanwhile escaped but the Afghan security forces have rounded some of them up. 

Nangarhar governor’s spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, said early Monday that security forces have managed to take back control of the prison’s checkpoint and so far three Daesh fighters have been killed. 

This attack started just a day after Afghanistan’s intelligence services announced the Afghan special forces had killed a high-ranking Daesh member in an operation in eastern Afghanistan.

A statement late Saturday by the National Directorate of Security said the slain militant was Assadullah Orakzai, an intelligence leader for the IS affiliate (Daesh) in Afghanistan. The statement said he was killed near Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. IS has its headquarters in the province.

Orakzai was suspected of being involved in several deadly attacks against both military and civilian targets in Afghanistan.