Oct. 17 (UPI) — Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers attacked multiple locations across Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing more than 70 people, local officials said.
Another 200 people sustained injuries in the attacks, which occurred in eastern Paktia and Ghazni provinces, authorities said.
Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry said Toryalai Abdyani, Paktia province police chief, died in the 4-hour assault on the school at the police headquarters in Gardez. Fifty-two people died there.
Security officials said two bomb-carrying vehicles detonated at the school. Armed insurgents then opened fire.
The governor’s office said some of the casualties were civilians at the site to obtain passports and national identification cards.
The ministry said at least five attackers died in the battle. The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Arif Noori, a spokesman for the governor of nearby Ghazni province, also blamed the Taliban for another attack with a similar methodology. That incident, 60 miles from Gardez, killed “dozens of Taliban” as they stormed the provincial governor’s office. Fifteen police officers and five civilians died in that attack and another 43 sustained injuries.
