Ten killed in attack in Afghan city

The gunfight in Afghanistan is over, with 10 people dead at the hands of Islamic State.

Afghan security forces inspect at the site of a suicide bombing.

An education department office in Jalalabad has been attacked in the Afghan city. (AAP)

Gunmen have attacked an education department office in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, holding out against security forces for about four hours before the assault ended with at least 10 people killed.

Officials say there were three attackers, two of whom detonated suicide-bomb vests, while the third was shot by security forces.

It was the third major attack in less than two weeks in Jalalabad, the main city of Nangarhar province, following a blast that killed a group of Sikhs on July 1 and a second that killed at least 12 people on Tuesday.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's attack but both of the other assaults in the city this month were claimed by Islamic State, which is opposed to both the Western-backed government in Kabul and the Taliban.

The attack on the education department appeared to follow the pattern of previous attacks including an assault on an office of the Save the Children aid group in Jalalabad in January and another on the city accounts office in May.

Nangarhar province, on the border with Pakistan, has become a stronghold of Islamic State, which has grown into one of Afghanistan's most dangerous militant groups since it appeared around the beginning of 2015.

On the other side of the country, in the western province of Farah, four people were killed and three wounded when their car set off a roadside bomb as they were travelling to a wedding, a provincial official said.


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Source: AAP


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Ten killed in attack in Afghan city | SBS News