Gunmen trap Afghan workers in attack on education department office

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked an education department office in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday and were holding out against security forces who had surrounded the compound, officials said.

Two explosions were heard near the scene and at least two people had been killed and five wounded, the provincial governor’s office said. However, with an unknown number of people trapped in the building, the final casualty figure may be much higher.
 

“Our first priority is to rescue those people who are stuck inside,” Jalalabad police chief Ghulam Sanayi Stanekzai told Tolo News TV.

It was the third major attack in less than two weeks in Jalalabad, the main city of Nangarhar province, following a blast that killed a group of Sikhs on July 1 and a second that killed at least 12 people on Tuesday.

The attacks have underscored the instability in many parts of Afghanistan following a brief three-day truce with the Taliban over the Eid al-Fitr holiday last month.