Daesh militants have stormed an under-construction facility belonging to the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in the Afghan capital Kabul, triggering an intense gunfight with security forces.
“Around 10:10 am, a group of armed attackers entered an under-construction building in (the) NDS training center in (the) Afshar area of Kabul,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish on Monday.
He said “the fighting is ongoing and we have also launched our operation,” adding that “the number of attackers, possible casualties and their target is not yet clear.”
Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the ministry, also said reinforcements had been dispatched to the scene.
The officials said the attackers used rocket-propelled grenades and light weapons.
The Takfiri terror group Daesh has claimed responsibility for the attack via its propaganda outlet.
In a separate attack elsewhere, the district chief of Aab Kamari in Badghis Province, Abdul Rasoul, was killed in a gunfight with Taliban militants on Sunday night.
Two other policemen were wounded in the same incident, according to security sources on Monday
The clashes took place after Taliban militants attacked a police post as Rasoul was on his way to support the forces, provincial police chief, Abdul Raouf Taj said.
“Abdul Rasoul and another policeman were killed in a Taliban ambush when they wanted to help the security forces who were under attack,” Taj said.
In another incident, a government checkpoint in the southern Helmand Province came under fire early Sunday. 11 police officers lost their lives, an official said.
Omar Zwak, the spokesman for the provincial governor, said Afghan forces repelled the attack after four hours of gunfight in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. Zwak said the militants suffered casualties.
Taliban militants launch attacks across the country on an almost daily basis, despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops on Afghan soil.
Exploiting the chaos, the Daesh terror group has been seeking to expand its presence in Afghanistan after losing the territories under its control in Iraq and Syria, where it first emerged in 2014.
