ISIS Attack On Afghan Prison Leaves At Least 29 Dead

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Afghan security personnel take position on the top of a building where insurgents were hiding in the city of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Monday. The day before, militants attacked a prison holding many ISIS members.

Rahmat Gul/AP

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Rahmat Gul/AP

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Taliban Call Cease-Fire In Afghanistan For Muslim Holiday

Though Afghan troops retook the prison on Monday, fighting has spilled onto the streets. Gunfire could be heard in residential buildings nearby, the AP reports.

The prison is located in Jalalabad — an area from which ISIS was thought to have been pushed out several months ago, NPR’s Diaa Hadid reports. The normally busy city was put under curfew on Sunday, Reuters reports.

The attack occurred amid a three-day nationwide ceasefire that began on Friday between Taliban and Afghan forces during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. It’s the third ceasefire the Taliban have called in the past two years.

Afghanistan is facing multiple challenges: Its government forces battle the Taliban, while ISIS continues to fight in the country even as it has been eliminated elsewhere.

The United States signed a peace deal with the Taliban earlier this year, and U.S. and NATO forces are beginning their withdrawal.