Image copyright EPA Image caption Heavy firing erupted after the attackers stormed the TV compound

At least six people and all four IS gunmen have been killed in a battle at the Afghan state television building in the city of Jalalabad, officials say.

Four of the dead worked for the broadcaster RTA. Two police also died.

The attack began when two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the compound. The other two entered it and battled security forces for four hours.

So-called Islamic State claimed the attack, which is near an IS stronghold on the eastern border with Pakistan.

The Taliban also has a strong presence in the area but the group said it was not involved.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Soldiers battled the gunmen and heavy firing was heard for several hours

Twelve employees, including the head of the station, were evacuated early in the attack but others were trapped in the building, which is near the provincial governor's compound.

A BBC Afghan service correspondent at the scene said the attack began when two gunmen on motorbikes blew themselves up about 30m (90 feet) away from the building.

Heavy gunfire then erupted and at least three loud blasts were heard before the security forces regained control. It was not immediately clear if the two attackers who entered the compound were shot dead or blew themselves up.

IS posted its claim on its news outlet Amaq, saying a "commando" operation targeting the broadcaster was under way.

Both the Taliban and IS have conducted a series of high-profile attacks in recent months on targets including Afghanistan's largest military hospital in Kabul and a military base in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif.</s>Alwaght- A gunbattle is underway in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad as assailants raided building of Afghan state television and Radio on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Reuters cited the provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khughyani as saying "We can confirm that a number of insurgents have entered the building". "Who they are, and what their target is, is still not clear."

He said there appeared to have been at least three attackers, two of whom had blown themselves up while at least one was still fighting.

The attackers, which carried AK-47s, entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), Al Jazeera reported, adding so far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province, the eastern province on the border with Pakistan where Islamic State fighters have established a stronghold, but there is also a strong Taliban presence in the region.

Insurgents fighting to oust the Western-backed government in Kabul have conducted a series of high-profile attacks this year on targets including Afghanistan's largest military hospital and a military base in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.</s>The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on an Afghan state television station that killed at least six people, as well as the attackers, and injured 24.

The attack, in the eastern city of Jalalabad, was the latest in a series on Afghan journalists and media in recent years.

It came just over a week after it was confirmed the leader of Islamic State in Afghanistan had been killed in a US drone strike.

Islamic State has established a stronghold in Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan, of which Jalalabad is capital, where it fights both the Taliban and Afghan government forces.

The raid on the RTA state broadcaster was carried out by four attackers, one of whom had detonated a suicide bomb at the entrance to the compound, said provincial governor Gulab Mangal.

As the attack unfolded, heavy gunfire could be heard from around the RTA building, which is close to the governor's compound.

"Islamic State fighters are currently carrying out an attack inside the state broadcasting building in the city of Jalalabad," the movement's AMAQ news agency said in a statement on instant messaging service Telegram.

Among the dead were four RTA employees, including a driver, a guard, and two technical personnel, as well as two policemen, according to Mr Mangal.

Seventeen civilians and seven members of the security forces were injured, he added.

The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee condemned the attack and said it was a violation of the rules of war that protect media.

The Taliban, who also have a strong presence in the region, denied responsibility.

Islamic State has recently been hit hard by US air strikes and special forces operations.</s>Jalalabad — Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on an Afghan state TV station on Wednesday, which killed at least six people as well as the attackers, and wounded 24.

The attack, in the eastern city of Jalalabad, was the latest in a series on Afghan journalists and media in recent years. It came just more than a week after it was confirmed that the leader of IS in Afghanistan had been killed in a US drone strike.

The militia group has established a stronghold in Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan, of which Jalalabad is the capital, where it fights both the Taliban and Afghan government forces.

The raid on the RTA state broadcaster was carried out by four attackers, one of whom had detonated a suicide bomb at the entrance to the compound, said provincial governor Gulab Mangal.

As the attack unfolded, heavy gunfire could be heard from around the RTA building, which is close to the governor’s compound "IS fighters are currently carrying out an attack inside the state broadcasting building in the city of Jalalabad," the movement’s Amaq news agency said in a statement on instant messaging service Telegram.

The three others were killed by security forces in the gun battle.

Among the dead were four RTA employees, including a driver, a guard and two technical personnel, as well as two police officers, according to Mangal.

Seventeen civilians and seven members of the security forces were wounded, he added.

The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee condemned the attack and said it was a violation of the rules of war that protect media as civilians.

The Taliban, who also have a strong presence in the region, denied responsibility.

IS has recently been hit hard by US air strikes and special forces operations.

The head of IS in Afghanistan, Abdul Hassib, was reported to have been killed in a joint Afghan-US

operation in Nangarhar at the end of April.

IS has also claimed responsibility for a series of high-profile attacks in the capital, Kabul, including one in March on Afghanistan’s largest military hospital.</s>Afghan security forces have engaged three gunmen who have attacked a state radio and television building in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar Province.

The gunmen began the Wednesday attack by detonating a bomb and managed to enter the state-run radio and television building in the provincial capital Jalalabad.

The building is close to the governor’s compound and a police station.

Heavy gunfire erupted between the security forces and the assailants, while some journalists and staff were trapped in the building, according to a photographer, who said he fled the building as soon as the gunfight started.

Government spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said there were three assailants. “Two of them have been killed and one is still resisting,” he said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties on the side of staff and security forces, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish.

The Takfiri Daesh terror group, which is active in the mountainous eastern province, claimed responsibility for the assault.

Elsewhere in the country, three civilians were killed in separate bomb attacks, officials said on Wednesday.

Two civilians were killed and two others were wounded in a bomb blast late Tuesday in the Nijrab district in Kapisa Province. Another civilian was also killed and 10 others were wounded, including three policemen, in twin bomb blasts in the southern Kandahar Province.

Those attacks have not been claimed by any group, either.

The Taliban have stepped up their attacks with the start of spring. They have been engaging in militancy since a US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, which toppled a government run by them.

Daesh has gained a foothold in Afghanistan more recently.
• Death Toll Rises To Six In RTA TV Attack</s>At least six people, including a police officer, were killed after ISIS gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, government officials say.

The attackers, carrying AK-47s, entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday, in the latest assault on media workers in the country.

 The raid on the RTA state broadcaster was carried out by four attackers, one of whom had detonated a suicide bomb at the entrance to the compound, said provincial governor Gulab Mangal.

 As the attack unfolded, heavy gunfire was heard from around the RTA building, which is close to the governor’s compound.

 The three others were killed by security forces in the gun battle, Mangal said.

 The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility for the attack that comes over a week after the leader of ISIL in Afghanistan was killed in a US drone strike.

 “Three attackers are dead and so are three other people,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said quoting police officials.

 At least 16 people, including journalists, were wounded in the attack which took place in central Jalalabad, close to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square, Hendren said.

 Among the dead were four RTA employees, including a driver, a guard, and two technical personnel, as well as two policemen, according to Mangal.

 ISIS has established a stronghold in Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is capital, where it fights both the Taliban and Afghan government forces.</s>Armed men wearing suicide vests storm TV station in the capital of Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, police say.

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers, which carried AK-47s, entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

"So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists," Al Jazeera's John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, said.

"The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor's office and a busy square," he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with Pakistan.</s>Militants stormed the national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, triggering a gunfight as journalists remained trapped inside the building, officials and eyewitnesses said.

No insurgent group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack in Nangarhar province, a hotbed of Islamic State jihadists, where the US military dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb last month in an unprecedented attack.

"Three gunmen entered the RTA (Radio Television Afghanistan) building this morning," government spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP.

"Two of them have been killed and one is still resisting."

An RTA photographer said he fled the building as soon as the gunfight erupted, but some of his colleagues were still stuck inside. An AFP reporter near the scene of the attack also heard two explosions.

Islamic State insurgents are active in Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital.

The US military last month dropped the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb -- dubbed the "Mother Of All Bombs" -- on IS positions in Nangarhar, killing dozens of jihadists.

The unprecedented attack triggered global shock waves, with some condemning the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that is not considered as big a threat as the resurgent Taliban.

According to the US Forces-Afghanistan, defections and recent battlefield losses have reduced the local IS presence from a peak of as many as 3,000 fighters to a maximum of 800.

The Pentagon has reportedly asked the White House to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan to break the deadlocked fight against the Taliban.

US troops in Afghanistan number about 8,400 today, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, who also mainly serve in an advisory capacity -- a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago.

Wednesday's attack marks the latest militant assault on an Afghan media organisation.

Afghanistan suffered its deadliest year on record for journalists in 2016, according to the Afghan Journalists' Safety Committee (AJSC), adding that the country is the second most dangerous for reporters in the world after Syria.

As least 13 journalists were killed last year, AJSC said, claiming that the Taliban was behind at least ten of the deaths.

In January last year, seven employees of popular TV channel Tolo, which is often critical of the insurgents, were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul in what the militant group said was revenge for "spreading propaganda" against them.

It was the first major attack on an Afghan media organisation since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001 and spotlighted the dangers faced by media workers in Afghanistan as the security situation worsens amid a growing wave of militant attacks.</s>At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with

At least three gunmen wearing suicide vests have attacked a national television and radio station in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, police have told Al Jazeera.

The attackers entered Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Wednesday and engaged in a gun battle with security forces.

Two of them detonated their vests and at least one remains at large, police said.

“So far, there have been two people and six wounded, including journalists,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, said.

“The fight could go on for some time because this is in a central part of Jalalabad, right next to the provincial governor’s office and a busy square,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Jalalabad is the capital of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with Pakistan.(Al Jazeera)</s>JALALABAD, Afghanistan The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on an Afghan state television station on Wednesday that killed at least six people as well as the attackers and wounded 24.The attack, in the eastern city of Jalalabad, was the latest in a series on Afghan journalists and media in recent years. It came just over a week after it was confirmed that the leader of Islamic State in Afghanistan had been killed in a U.S. drone strike.Islamic State, or Daesh as it is generally known in Afghanistan, has established a stronghold in Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan, of which Jalalabad is capital, where it fights both the Taliban and Afghan government forces. The raid on the RTA state broadcaster was carried out by four attackers, one of whom had detonated a suicide bomb at the entrance to the compound, said provincial governor Gulab Mangal.As the attack unfolded, heavy gunfire could be heard from around the RTA building, which is close to the governor's compound

"Islamic State fighters are currently carrying out an attack inside the state broadcasting building in the city of Jalalabad," the movement's AMAQ news agency said in a statement on instant messaging service Telegram. The three others were killed by security forces in the gun battle.Among the dead were four RTA employees, including a driver, a guard, and two technical personnel, as well as two policemen, according to Mangal.

Seventeen civilians and seven members of the security forces were wounded, he added.The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee condemned the attack and said it was a violation of the rules of war that protect media as civilians.

The Taliban, who also have a strong presence in the region, denied responsibility.Islamic State has recently been hit hard by U.S. air strikes and special forces operations.The head of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abdul Hassib, was reported this month to have been killed in a joint Afghan-U.S. operation in Nangarhar at the end of April. Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for a series of high-profile attacks in the capital, Kabul, including one in March on Afghanistan's largest military hospital. (Additional reporting by Mohamed el Sherif in CAIRO; writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Robert Birsel and Clarence Fernandez)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Four militants attack a state television building in Jalalabad, killing at least six people. The militants are also killed after engaging with Afghan police. ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack.