Islamic State storms Afghan prison hours before Eid al-Adha cease-fire expires

The attack began with a car bomb at one of the prison's gates, making way for gunmen to move into the complex. Afghan special forces were dispatched to the scene in central Jalalabad where they battled the militants for hours. The area had not been declared cleared late Sunday. 

Shortly after the raid began, the Taliban issued a brief statement in a tweet denying responsibility.

The attack occurred hours before a three-day cease-fire between the Taliban and the Afghan government forces was set to expire. The truce was intended as a confidence-building measure to aid in the push for direct peace talks. An uptick in violence and a controversial prisoner swap have delayed negotiations for months after the signing of a U.S.-Taliban peace deal.

Several prisoners escaped the complex, and "a number" of them were quickly taken back into custody by police, said Nangahar government spokesman Attaullah Khogyani. He declined to disclose specific numbers. 

At least three people were killed and 24 wounded in the initial car bomb attack, The Associated Press reported. Afghan officials did not release information on casualties among security forces or prisoners.

While the Taliban denied involvement, the complex nature of the attack mirrors past Taliban assaults on other prisons in Afghanistan. In 2015, a Taliban raid on a prison in Ghazni freed more than 350 prisoners. It, too, was led with a car bomb that breached the complex's perimeter before gunmen stormed the buildings. 

Afghan security officials said the attack also could have been carried out by a Taliban splinter group to upset the push for direct peace talks. The concern touches on questions surrounding unity within the Taliban movement and the ability of Taliban political leadership in Qatar to control the group's fighters on the ground. Both issues are becoming increasingly important in the lead-up to peace talks. 

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. 

The Islamic State also has been increasingly recruiting from within the most extreme ranks of Taliban fighters. Afghanistan's Islamic State offshoot has claimed responsibility for a number of recent Kabul attacks in which gunmen stormed buildings and held off security forces for hours, but none as complex as Sunday's prison raid. 

Jalalabad's central prison holds Islamic State-linked fighters as well as those linked to the Taliban, but the most senior fighters from both groups are held in prisons in Kabul. 

Until the attack Sunday, the cease-fire announced by the Taliban to mark the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday largely quelled violence across Afghanistan. Low-level security incidents were reported nationwide, but the cease-fire was upheld for the most part. 

The Islamic State was not a party to the cease-fire, and Sunday's attack probably would not constitute a violation of the truce. But the prison raid does highlight the kind of violence that could continue in Afghanistan despite a peace deal with the Taliban. 

Before the Eid holiday, the Afghan government announced that it would release 5,000 prisoners as the Taliban demanded before talks could begin. But the two sides remain at odds over who should be among the 5,000. Taliban officials are asking for 100 fighters linked to deadly high-profile attacks be released, a move strongly opposed by government officials and international human rights organizations.