Bank handles payroll for security forces, govt officials
At least eight people were killed after gunmen dressed as border police attacked a bank building in the main city in Afghanistan’s east, witnesses and government officials said on Saturday.
Saifullah Khan Ebrahimkhil, the chief of the main hospital in the city, said the casualties included police. He added: "In total there are 56 injured and eight dead. Most of the injured and dead are hit by AK-47 rounds."
A Reuters witness reported hearing two blasts and said gunfire could still be heard coming from a branch of the Kabulbank, Afghanistan’s top private lender, in Jalalabad city.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear, although coordinated assaults by insurgents against government buildings and military bases have increased in recent years.
Insurgents often dress in the uniforms of Afghan security forces, or as women, at the start of such attacks.
"I was inside the bank when seven gunmen in border police uniform attacked," said a government employee who identified himself only as Salman and was wounded in the attack.
"My brother was killed by them," he said.
Ahmadzia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said the attackers likely included suicide bombers. Nangarhar, of which Jalalabad is the capital, borders Pakistan.
Another witness, Sediqullah Momand, said: "They shot the bank tellers first. I saw dead and wounded people inside the bank."
Traffic from Jalalabad to the capital, Kabul, was blocked by Afghan police and NATO-led troops, witnesses said, and one man was seen running from the area with his clothes covered in blood.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul said it was aware of an incident in Jalalabad and was investigating.
Violence across Afghanistan last year reached its worst levels since the Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001, with civilian and military casualties at record levels, despite the presence of about 150,000 foreign troops.
Kabulbank, Afghanistan’s top private lender, is mired in a corruption scandal that could have grave political consequences.
The International Monetary Fund has painted a grim picture of the Afghan government’s handling of the crisis, in which hundreds of millions of dollars have been put at risk through mismanagement, fraud and bad loans, and is considering whether to renew its support for Afghanistan.