16 Dead in Militant Attack Near Jalalabad Airport in Afghanistan

According to officials, the fighting has ended but a cleanup operation is still underway.

An Afghan security personnel stand guard in the checkpoint of airport after a suicide attack in Jalalabad province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan.

(Photo: AP)

An Afghan provincial spokesperson says the death toll from a militant attack on a construction company near a main airport in the country's east has risen to 16.

Attahullah Khogyani, spokesperson for the governor in eastern Nangarhar province, said that along with the 16 killed, nine other people were wounded when the militants launched a suicide bombing and stormed a construction company near the airport outside Jalalabad, the provincial capital.

He says the attack started around 5 am and lasted until 10:30 am. Khogyani said that there were five attackers, two of whom detonated their suicide vests while three others were shot and killed by the security forces.

He says the fighting has ended but a cleanup operation is still underway.

An Afghan official says militants set off a suicide blast and stormed a construction company near the main airport in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, killing at least 4 people.

The province's police chief, General Ghulam Sanayee Stanikzai, says five people were also wounded when the bomber, who was on foot, detonated his explosives at the gate of the company on Wednesday morning.

Stanikzai says several other attackers then stormed inside the company where a gun-battle is underway now. He says the casualty toll could rise further.

The police chief also says that US forces have arrived at the scene.

No one has claimed immediately the attack but both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in eastern Afghanistan, especially in Nangarhar province.