Gunmen storm Afghan police station as mine clearers abducted

Insurgents armed with guns and explosives attacked a police station Sunday in Afghanistan's southern city of Lashkar Gar, wounding two officers and a civilian as gunmen elsewhere kidnapped at least a dozen mine clearers, ABC News reported.

Nabi Jan Malakhail, the police chief of Helmand province, said at least two insurgents were inside the police station, fighting late Sunday with police who had the building surrounded. One suicide bomber had blown himself up outside the station to allow the others in, he said.

Helmand province is a stronghold of the Taliban, who have been fighting the Kabul government for more than a decade.

Meanwhile, gunmen kidnapped at least a dozen Afghan mine clearers in the eastern province of Paktia, said Gen. Zelmai Oryakhail, the provincial police chief. He said the clearers had been working without police or soldiers protecting them at their own request.

No group immediately claimed either attack.

The attacks come a day after a suicide bomber in Jalalabad killed at least 35 people and wounded around 125. President Ashraf Ghani attributed the attack to the Islamic State group, without revealing the source of his information.