Suspected ISIS Militants Kidnap 14 From Religious School in Afghanistan

Suspected militants from the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) attacked a religious school in eastern Afghanistan Sunday, kidnapping 12 teachers and two other members of staff, according to officials.

The fighters entered the school in the Haska Mina district of Nangarhar province during an examination, according to the education department in the provincial capital of Jalalabad, Reuters reported. The other two kidnapped members of staff were administrators.

"We are saddened by the news and ask security departments, local elders and prominent figures in the area to help us release our teachers," the department said in a statement.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but police and government officials blame ISIS.

Kidnapping, for both monetary and political gain, is a prominent risk for both foreigners and Afghans in the country.

Afghan forces, backed by U.S. drone strikes, have been battling ISIS's presence in the eastern province. In August, NATO's top commander in the country said the joint U.S.-Afghan operation had killed 300 ISIS fighters in two weeks.

In 2016, ISIS claimed its first attacks in Afghanistan, the largest being the June 2016 suicide bombing of a protest by the Shiite Hazara minority in Kabul, the Afghan capital. It left at least 80 people dead and more than 230 wounded.

On Sunday, gunmen released Jaun Carlos, Spanish employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), after four weeks in captivity in northern Afghanistan. The aid agency did not specify the group's demands or their motives but thanked those who helped to secure his release.

"We are relieved and grateful that Juan Carlos is now back with us, safe and sound," the head of the ICRC delegation in Afghanistan, Monica Zanarelli, said in a statement. "His abduction was a terrible ordeal for him, as well as for his family, friends and colleagues."