Ten die in Afghan education office attack
Kabul, July 11: At least 10 people were killed and many others injured in an attack on Wednesday on an education department office in Afghanistan's Jalalabad, an assault that security forces ended after several hours of fighting.
"In this attack so far 10 people are killed and 10 more injured. More details will be shared later," said the Nangarhar province governor spokesperson Attaullah Khogyani who did not provide details on the number of attackers.
Khogyani said the clashes had begun at 9.30 a.m. in western Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar. During the assault, several workers were trapped inside the building, Khogyani confirmed to the Efe news.
In June, four rebels were killed and 10 civilians wounded in an attack on the provincial headquarters of the education ministry in Jalalabad, although the building targeted on Wednesday belongs to the city's education office.
Until now, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack in Nangarhar, a hotbed for militant groups, including the Taliban and the Islamic State.
This is the third major attack in the city this month, and comes a day after at least 11 people were killed and four others wounded in a suicide attack on a security check-post.
On July 1, 19 people - mostly from the minority Hindu and Sikh communities - were killed and 21 wounded in a suicide attack, which coincided with a visit by President Ashraf Ghani.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
