JALALABAD: The militant Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on an Afghan state television station on Wednesday that killed at least six people as well as the attackers. Twenty-four others were injured.

The attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad was the latest in a series of assaults on Afghan journalists and media organisations in recent years. It came just over a week after it was confirmed that the leader of IS in Afghanistan had been killed in a US drone strike.

The IS group has established a stronghold in Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan, of which Jalalabad is the capital, where it fights both the Taliban and Afghan government forces.

The deadly attack on the RTA state broadcaster was carried out by four assailants, one of whom detonated a suicide bomb at the entrance to the compound, said provincial Governor Gulab Mangal.

IS claims responsibility for attack

As the attack unfolded, heavy gunfire could be heard from around the RTA building, which is quite close to the governor’s compound.

“The Islamic State fighters are currently carrying out an attack inside the state broadcasting building in the city of Jalalabad,” the group’s AMAQ news agency said in a statement on instant messaging service Telegram.

The three others were killed by security forces in the gun battle.

Among the dead were four RTA employees, including a driver, a guard, and two technical personnel, as well as two policemen, according to Mangal.

Seventeen civilians and seven members of the security forces were wounded, he added.

The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee condemned the attack and said it was a violation of the rules of war that protect media as civilians.

The Taliban, who also have a strong presence in the region, denied responsibility.

IS has recently been hit hard by US air strikes and operations carried out by special forces.

The head of IS in Afghanistan, Abdul Hassib, was reported this month to have been killed in a joint Afghan-US operation in Nangarhar at the end of April.

IS also claimed responsibility for a series of high-profile attacks in the capital, Kabul, including one in March on Afghanistan’s largest military hospital.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2017