Gunmen attack midwife training facility in eastern Afghanistan

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, July 28 (Reuters) - Afghan security forces surrounded gunmen who stormed a facility for trainee midwives in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Saturday following an attack that began with multiple explosions.

After a battle lasting several hours, which sent clouds of black smoke spiraling into the sky, all the attackers were killed by security forces, according to a statement by Attaullah Khogyani, the provincial government spokesman.

In addition, seven people, including four civilians, were wounded in the attack, the latest in a series to have hit Jalalabad in recent weeks.

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There was no immediate claim of responsibility but recent attacks have been claimed by Islamic State, which has a stronghold in the surrounding province of Nangarhar, on the border with Pakistan.

It was not immediately clear why the attackers had targeted the facility, which was mainly occupied by trainee midwives from the eastern province of Nuristan. Officials said they had been evacuated as the attack began. (Reporting by Ahmad Sultan, Rafiq Shirzad and Qadir Sediqi in KABUL Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Kevin Liffey)