On December 2, ISIS fighters shelled the building of the privately-owned Inhykas TV station in the capital of the eastern province of Nangarhar, Jalalabad, according to the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq. The source said that ISIS fighters also targeted the Afghan Police and security forces when they arrived to Inhykas TV building with two IEDs.
The ISIS-linked news agency claimed that ten security forces servicemembers were killed in the attack. The head of the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Jalalabad city was allegedly among them.
However, Attahullah Ghogyani spokesman for Nangarhar province told the Chinese news agency Xinhua that only three people were killed and six others were injured in the ISIS attack. Ghogyani said that the victims were two civilians and one member of the NDS.
“A bomb blast occurred at around midday near the building of local media Inhykas TV in Jalalabad. As soon as people gathered near the side and responding units of security forces arrived two blasts went off there, leaving the casualties,” Ghogyani told Xinhua.
This was not the first time when ISIS attacked a media outlet in Jalalabad. Back on May 17, six suicide bombers of ISIS stormed a building of the Afghan Radio Television (RTA) and blew themselves up inside it. At least six workers were killed in the attack.
Hours later, Ghogyani told the Afghan Tolo TV that twelve fighters of ISIS were killed and eight others were injured in two airstrikes conducted by NATO warplanes on Wazir Tangi area in Khogyani district of Nangarhar province.
Lately the US been relaying on such limited airstrikes in order to counter ISIS in Nangarhar province. However, this policy has proven to be ineffective, as ISIS continues growing rapidly in Nangarhar. The area is now considered the main base of the terrorist organization in Afghanistan.