Seven suicide bombers attack Afghan police base

A group of seven suicide bombers attacked a police base in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Tuesday, killing five officers, police said.

One bomber set off a large explosion at the entrance of the quick reaction police headquarters before two bombers blew themselves up inside the facility and four others died in a gun fight with police.

“The first one detonated a car bomb; two others entered the base and detonated themselves and the remaining four were shot dead,” Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, the Nangarhar province police spokesman, said.

The Taliban militants immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming that it had targeted “foreigners and Israeli teachers” training Afghan police at the base in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar.

“There are heavy police casualties,” the group said.

Jalalabad is situated on the key route from the Pakistan border regions, where many militants are based, to the capital Kabul, and the city has been targeted by repeated suicide attacks in recent years.