The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the police compound in the eastern city of Jalalabad, which began before midnight on Sunday when a suicide bomber detonated a car-bomb at the gate, clearing the way for his comrades to rush in.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said the attack was aimed at an “importing meeting” at the headquarters. A police commander said his men over-powered the militants.
“Our security forces responded quickly. They shot and killed four others, while a fifth attacker has been detained,” said provincial police chief Fazal Ahmad Shirzad.
Police seized AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades from the attackers, he said.
The Taliban, forced from power by U.S.-backed Afghan opponents and U.S. air strikes in 2001, are fighting to expel foreign forces and the U.S.-backed Afghan government.
In recent weeks, the militants have accelerated their insurgency across the country.
Last week, four Taliban insurgents stormed a guesthouse in the diplomatic quarter of the Afghan capital last week and held out for hours until they were killed by government forces. – Reuters
