Afghanistan: 29 killed, 50 wounded in prison attack

KABUL, Afghanistan

The Afghan Defense Ministry declared the clean-up operation in Jalalabad prison over on Monday with all five attackers killed. The clash killed at least 29 people and wounded 50 others.

The Daesh-claimed attack began Sunday evening with a suicide car bombing followed by armed assault on the prison by five attackers in the capital city of eastern Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan, officials said.

Almost 20 hours after the attack, the Defense Ministry announced in a statement that all five attackers were killed and clean-up operation around the facility was completed.

Earlier, Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, told Anadolu Agency that 1,793 inmates were present at the time of attacks in the prison.

“Out of these inmates, 1,025 have been captured by security forces while trying to escape, 430 prisoners have been rescued during the attack on the prison and some got ‘martyred’ and some still remain unaccounted for” he said.

He confirmed at least 29 people were killed and 50 others wounded in total.

The attack began on the last day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha cease-fire between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

Although the Daesh terrorist group assumed responsibility for the attack, Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for the Afghan president, blamed the Taliban for “paving ground” for all terrorist groups in Afghanistan to carry out such attacks.

The Taliban denied their involvement in the attack.