ISIL targets Afghan prison in attack killing 29

ISIL attacked a prison in eastern Afghanistan holding hundreds of its members, leading to an hourslong battle on Aug. 3 that saw the military retake control of the facility even as militants continued to fire on them from a nearby neighborhood. The fighting killed at least 29 people and wounded 50, authorities said.

Security forces seized the prison on Aug. 3 afternoon in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, some 115 kilometers (70 miles) east of Kabul, Defense Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman said.

Sporadic gunfire rang out from nearby residential buildings in central Jalalabad, an area of high security near the provincial governor's office.

The attack highlighted the challenges ahead for Afghanistan, even as U.S. and NATO forces begin to withdraw following America striking a peace deal with the Taliban.

As security forces swept through the prison, they found the bodies of two Taliban prisoners apparently killed by the ISIL group, showing the tensions between the two militant factions battling each other in eastern Afghanistan.

The 29 dead included civilians, prisoners, guards and Afghan security forces, said Attaullah Khogyani, the provincial governor's spokesman.

The attack began on Aug. 2, when an ISIL suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives up to the prison's main gate, detonating the bomb. ISIL militants opened fire on the prison's guards and poured through the breach.

The ISIL's affiliate in Afghanistan, known as IS in Khorasan province, later claimed responsibility for the attack. The affiliate is headquartered in Nangarhar province.

The motive of the attack wasn't immediately clear. However, some of the 1,500 prisoners there escaped during the fighting. Khyogyani said about 1,000...