Suicide bomber and gunmen hit eastern Afghanistan govt office

• Afghan security forces surrounded the building and are clashing with the attackers in a bid to counter the attack.
• No students, teachers or education officials are being hired as election workers, they can volunteer for Afghanistan's election.
• We are committed to holding elections on the announced date, and such threats from the Taliban cannot prevent us from holding them.

JALALABAD/KABUL: A suicide bomber and gunmen wounded at least nine people, including a child and a woman, in an attack on a government building in eastern Afghan on Wednesday, officials said.

The attackers detonated explosives before gunmen poured into the building, said the officials. The office is a distribution centre in the city of Jalalabad for national identity cards, which people need to vote in Afghanistan's presidential election in 10 days.

"Afghan security forces surrounded the building and are clashing with the attackers in a bid to counter the attack," said Sohrab Qaderi, a council member for the city's province of Nangarhar, adding that more casualties are feared with staff and other people stuck in the building.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Taliban warned teachers, students and other education workers to avoid the upcoming presidential vote or risk dying in attacks on election centres.

Schools and universities make up between seven and eight out of every ten polling centres across the country, and though no students, teachers or education officials are being hired as election workers, they can volunteer, said Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan's election commission.

"We are committed to holding elections on the announced date, and such threats from the Taliban cannot prevent us from holding them," the spokesman said.