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For Second Day In A Row, Jalalabad Rocked By Terrorist Attack

Joseph Lafave Contributor
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Three terrorists attacked an Afghan education department building in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province on Wednesday, leaving at least ten people dead. This attack comes just one day after a deadly ISIS suicide bombing on Tuesday left 12 people dead in the same city.

According to a report from Reuters, the three terrorists assaulted the building Wednesday morning and engaged in a four-hour gun battle with security forces before two of the attackers detonated suicide vests. The third attacker was reportedly killed by security forces during the firefight.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack, experts believe that ISIS, which is responsible for Tuesday’s attack and another bombing in Jalalabad on July 1 against a group of Sikhs, is the likely culprit.

“These kinds of soft and high-profile attacks we have seen before in Afghanistan and throughout the world, which make big news and that’s what ISIS wants,” said security expert Shafiq Hamdam, a former adviser to NATO forces while speaking to Al Jazeera.

Nangarhar province, which sits in the eastern part of Afghanistan on the border of Pakistan, has become a hotbed of ISIS activity despite pressure from Afghanistan’s military and the U.S. led coalition. While ISIS continues to carry out attacks across the country, allied forces are also battling the Taliban, which has also become more active since the end of a temporary cease-fire during the Eid holiday.