ISIL claims responsibility for armed attack on prison in Jalalabad

(Patria) – At least 24 people were killed in an armed attack by ISIL on a prison in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar, which continued on Monday, a local official reported.

Another 42 people were wounded in the exchange of fire that began on Sunday evening, and the number is expected to rise.

The attack began with a suicide car bomb at the main gate of the prison in Jalalabad, the provincial capital. The attackers then opened fire on Afghan security forces. It is estimated that around 30 ISIL fighters are involved in the attack, Reuters reports.

It is still unknown how many prisoners escaped from the prison during the attack, for which the ISIL group based in this province has claimed responsibility.

The prison holds around 2,000 inmates, several hundred of whom are reportedly members of the Afghan branch of ISIL, Euronews reports.

The attack came a day after the Afghan intelligence service confirmed that Afghan special forces had killed a senior ISIL commander near Jalalabad.

A political spokesman for the Taliban told AP that his group was not involved in the attack: 'We have agreed to a ceasefire and are not involved in any attack in the country,' Suhail Shaheen stressed.

The Taliban declared a three-day ceasefire from Friday for Eid al-Adha. The ceasefire expires at noon on Monday, and it is still unknown whether it will be extended as the US seeks to implement peace talks that have been delayed several times since February, when Washington signed a peace deal with the Taliban.

Afghanistan has recently seen a sharp rise in violence, with the local ISIL group claiming responsibility for most attacks.