Car blown up outside Jalalabad base before attackers stormed inside and set off explosive vests
Eight suicide bombers attacked a police headquarters in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Tuesday, killing five officers and wounding four others, a security official said.
The attack occurred on the second day of a visit to Kabul by John Kerry, the US secretary of state.
An insurgent blew up a car in front of the Jalalabad police quick reaction force base, then another seven attackers wearing bomb vests stormed the compound, police said. Three attackers blew themselves up inside the compound and the other four were shot by police during a gunfight that lasted more than an hour.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack. The Nangarhar provincial police chief, Mohammad Sharif Amin, said some of the attackers had been wearing uniforms resembling those of the US-led Nato coalition.
Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province, about 75 miles (120km) east of Kabul.
Insurgents have in recent months been carrying out complex attacks involving car bombs and gunmen in bomb vests against government and police buildings around the country.
The attacks are expected to intensify as the traditional spring fighting season gets under way. Heavy snow and bad weather conditions usually put a damper on fighting during the harsh Afghan winter.
On 14 March the Afghan intelligence service seized a truck bomb packed with eight tonnes of explosives on the eastern outskirts of Kabul. They killed five suspected suicide bombers and arrested two others during a raid to seize the truck.
The truck was apparently meant to carry out an attack on a Nato facility in the capital. According to Afghan intelligence the truck bomb bore the hallmarks of the Haqqani network, which is known for conducting spectacular attacks.
Affiliated with the Taliban, the network is run by the Haqqani family and is based across the border in Pakistan.