Al-Jazeera correspondent in Afghanistan reported that clashes continued today, Monday between security forces and gunmen in the vicinity of the central prison in the eastern city of Jalalabad, amid reports of a mass flight of prisoners.

Our correspondent quoted a government official as saying that 21 people were killed and 52 others wounded in a suicide attack on the prison, which ISIS claimed responsibility for.

The attack began yesterday evening with the detonation of a car bomb at the entrance to the prison, and several other explosions were heard, as the organization fighters opened fire on the prison guards.

Sohrab Qadri, a lawmaker in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar state, said that about 30 militants participated in the attack on the prison, which was holding about two thousand prisoners.

For his part, a spokesman for Ata Allah Khujiani, Governor of Nangarhar, confirmed that the government forces arrested 1,000 prisoners who fled after the bombing and the clashes.

On the other hand, a security source reported to the island that 300 ISIS detainees were in prison, and a number of them managed to escape.

Government forces near a former bombing site in the capital (Reuters)

Evacuation and ban

Officials said special forces arrived to support the police, and civilians were evacuated from the areas surrounding the prison where Taliban and ISIS prisoners are being held alongside ordinary criminals.

Meanwhile, the city's closures were imposed, and in his comment on these measures, Qadri said, "The curfew is imposed throughout Jalalabad and the shops are closed. The city is completely empty."

Yesterday evening, the Taliban denied the involvement of their militants in the attack that took place on the last days of the armistice between them and the government.

"This is not an attack by us. Mujahideen have not yet been authorized to launch attacks," said Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the movement.

Several attacks and suicide bombings against government forces (Reuters)

Ad and attacks

It is noteworthy that the attack took place a day after the government forces announced the killing of the head of ISIS intelligence in the country, Asadullah Urukazi, in Jalalabad.

ISIS militants had used Jalalabad as their base before security forces and the Taliban expelled them in recent years.

Jalalabad is about 130 km east of the capital, Kabul, located on the highway leading to the Khyber Pass and the Pakistani city of Peshawar.

A UN report estimated last month that about 2,200 ISIS members are in Afghanistan, and that the organization is still able to launch major attacks despite its retreat in the region and the depletion of its leadership.