U.S. troops respond to Afghanistan attack

Afghan troops, with the help of U.S. forces, on Wednesday ended an hourslong extremist attack in the eastern Nangarhar province that killed at least 17 people. Two attackers detonated a suicide bomb at 5 a.m. at a local construction company near the airport in Jalalabad, the provincial capital. Three other insurgents then engaged local guards in a gun battle that lasted more than five hours, said Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor. The militants all died in the shootout, said Gen. Ghulam Sanayee Stanikzai, the provincial police chief. The casualties include 16 employees of the construction company and a military intelligence officer. Nine other people sustained injuries, Khogyani added.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban and Islamic State (ISIS) remain active throughout the country. The Taliban claimed responsibility for a weekend attack on an army unit in the southern Helmand province that killed at least 23 soldiers and injured more than 20 others.