Death toll in Afghanistan bank attack rises to at least 40

[News_Editor]

Death toll in Afghanistan bank attack rises to at least 40

2011-02-20 23:01:24 GMT+7 (ICT)

JALALABAD, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- The death toll from a coordinated suicide attack on a bank in the Afghan city of Jalalabad on Saturday has risen to at least 40, officials said on Sunday.

The attack happened on Saturday around noon local time in Jalalabad, a city in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province. "Three suicide terrorists [..] entered the bank in the city of Jalalabad and blew themselves up," a statement from the office of Afghan President Hamid Karzai said.

Officials said on Sunday that the death toll from the attack had risen to at least 40 Afghans while more than 70 others were injured, many of whom were Afghan National Security Forces.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday, although the claim could not immediately be confirmed. "Shahid, Zara Jan and Jamal-ud-Din, three martyr-seeking Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate who were armed with heavy and small arms and explosive vests got into the Kabul Bank's military section where the agents of NDS, a local spy agency of US-NATO invaders and the puppets of the [Afghan National Army (ANA)] were waiting to get their monthly pay and engaged in bloody firefight using heavy and small machine guns and hand grenades which left several dozens of puppets and spy agents of NDS killed or wounded," a Taliban spokesperson said through a statement.

The Taliban spokesperson added: "At about 2.00 p.m., Mujahideen using a remote-controlled device detonated an Auto Rickshaw stuffed with some 50 kg of explosives outside the bank which killed or wounded more than 10 puppet soldiers who had been surrounding the bank besides damaging the building."

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) did not report any fatalities among its service members, nor did it indicate its service members were involved. The Taliban is known to exaggerate statements about attacks.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Sunday "strongly condemned" the attack. "This deliberate and brutal attack against hardworking and courageous civil servants is another example of the anti-Islamic behavior and cowardice of the Taliban," the Embassy said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the office of Karzai said in a statement that the president condemned the attack and added: "Once again, these [terrorists] showed they don't want the Afghan people to continue their peaceful lives."

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