Six Killed in Suicide Attack At Afghanistan Intelligence Compound --- KABUL—Taliban insurgents attacked a fortified compound of Afghanistan's intelligence agency in the eastern city of Jalalabad Saturday, killing at least six people and injuring more than 30, Afghan officials said. -- About 5 a.m. local time, two attackers drove a car and a truck packed with explosives to the gate of the provincial headquarters of the National Directorate of Security in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan's most important city. The assailants blew themselves up at the entrance, clearing the way for six other insurgents to enter the compound, where they engaged in a firefight with security forces. -- "The terrorists got into the building but were quickly gunned down by security forces," said Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, a local police spokesman. -- The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Zabihullah Mujahid, the group's spokesman, said the fighters were armed with light and heavy weapons and had suicide vests strapped to their bodies. -- The explosion was unusually powerful: Witnesses say it damaged buildings several hundred meters away from the NDS compound, shattering glass windows across a predominantly residential neighborhood of Jalalabad. -- Homayun Zahir, the head of the provincial hospital in Jalalabad, said six dead bodies and 33 wounded people, most of them civilians, had reached his hospital. -- Noorshah Kamawal, a resident, was sleeping when the blast shook his neighborhood. "It was massive, it was like an earthquake," said Mr. Kamawal. Shortly after the explosion, he said residents poured into the streets to assess the damage and assist the wounded. -- "There was glass everywhere," said Mr. Kamawal. "There were people crying and ambulances. I saw women and children injured, and dead bodies that were being carried away." -- Mr. Kamawal said security around the NDS headquarters was tight, and that the road leading to it had been closed to traffic for several months. -- In a separate incident later Saturday, 11 men were shot and killed by unknown gunmen in the Western province of Farah. The shooting took place as the men were driving to bordering Iran, where they likely worked as day laborers, according to Jawad Afghan, the spokesman of the local government in Farah. Four men were also injured. -- No one immediately claimed responsibility for this attack. -- Saturday's attacks come as the Taliban are pressing an offensive across Afghanistan, exploiting a period of political uncertainty caused by a disputed election. --- With outgoing President Hamid Karzai due to step down on Tuesday, the two candidates are now focusing on hammering out the details of a power-sharing agreement. --- Messrs. Ghani and Abdullah next week are expected to jointly address a crucial North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting in the U.K. through video link, Western officials said. At the meeting, member states will discuss their military and financial commitments to Afghanistan and its security forces after Dec. 2014, when the current mission ends. - WSJ, http://online.wsj.com/articles/six-killed-in-suicide-attack-at-afghanistan-intelligence-compound-1409392482