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JALALABAD (Afghanistan) – A seven-hour extremist attack on a midwifery school in eastern Afghanistan left two dead and 11 wounded, but at the end of A poignant day, the authorities managed to avoid a much more serious tragedy.
Most of the 67 young female students were quickly evacuated or fled to a walled hall on the grounds of the Jalalabad school. Three of them were injured, according to a police official. In addition, 12 young children in a daycare for school staff have escaped the danger, said Gholam Sanayi Stanikzai, the police chief of Nangarhar province, after two attackers fought. Automatic weapons and grenades exploded their explosive vests when the police closed.
Two employees of the center were killed and five others wounded, he added, and three policemen were also injured. All students and children were saved.
"The reason it took so long to master the attack was the presence of women and children in the center who were very scared," said Stanikzai. "The security forces proceeded very carefully."
According to witnesses, a large group of practicing midwifery students barricaded themselves in a security room. The fate of the children in the daycare was not clear for several hours.
A senior police official said three of the center's students had been injured in the attack.
The attack began around 11 am at the Midwifery Training Center in Jalalabad, when attackers besieged the school. Five explosions were heard on the site, located in the center of the city in Nangarhar province. Heavy fire was heard after the initial attack and Special Police units arrived at the scene.
School students, ages 18 to 19, were enrolled in a two-year obstetrics program and lived in a dormitory.
Ataullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the Governor of Nangarhar, first stated that all the young women had been successfully evacuated at the beginning of the attack. Witnesses and officers present at the scene, however, stated that many had not been able to escape and take refuge.
Although there was no immediate claim, the attack bore the marks of the Islamic State, whose local affiliate is It is particularly active in Nangarhar and responsible for many suicide attacks.
The Taliban have recently repudiated attacks against civilian targets and have long refrained from targeting medical facilities or institutions for women. The Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, denied that the group was behind the attack in a WhatsApp message.
The Midwifery Center is managed by the Afghan Ministry of Public Health and trains midwives.
He is close to another midwifery school in Jalalabad which is run by the Norwegian Committee of Afghanistan. Terje M. Watterdal, National Director of this organization, said the young women were all safe, but that they spent the hours of the attack in a secure room.
Follow Rod Nordland on Twitter: @rodnordland.
Zabihullah Ghazi from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and Rod Nordland from Kabul. Fahim Abed contributed to the Kabul report.
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