JALALABAD, Afghanistan, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified armed men set a school on fire in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar, the provincial government said in a statement Sunday.

"Unknown armed men torched Kiptan Baba Middle School in Bati Kot district at midnight Saturday. The school building was destroyed and all the documents and books inside the school building were burned," the statement said.

More than 800 boy students attended the school.

No group has claimed responsibility, but Taliban and Islamic State (IS) groups' militants who are against education are active in the area.

More than 9.5 million Afghan children with around 40 percent of them girls attend 15,000 schools across the country while over 3.5 million school-age children have no access to education due to poverty, conflict and insurgency, according to education officials.