General Secretary of Awami National Party Mian Iftikhar Hussain has condemned the suicide attack on Pakistan’s Consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and termed it a plan to sabotage the improving ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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He said that three attackers had been killed, including the one who had detonated explosives on his body at 9 a.m. Seven people were wounded, including three civilians, he said.
Afghan forces flushed out gunmen barricaded in a guest house near the consulate building in the border city, hours after a suicide bomber targeted a police patrol nearby, officials said on Wednesday. First India blamed Pakistan for the Pathankot attack, and then the Indian Defence Minister said in a vile threat that “those harming India will be dealt with similar terrorist attacks” and the correlation between the two incidents has attracted attention in Pakistan.
Security officials have warned against IS gaining a foothold in Afghanistan’s eastern region, where the group reportedly murdered tribal elders, clashed with the rival Taliban, imprisoned families and enforced strict rules on women.
The embassy official said all consular staff were evacuated.
“Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani made a telephone call to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and apprised him of the attack on the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad and expressed his concern and grief over the incident”, reads a statement from the PM Office.
While a police spokesman said investigators were trying to determine the target, Indian officials claimed that the Indian mission was not the target.
The suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Pakistani consulate and the bombing was followed by gunfire from unidentified terrorists.
The scene of the attack is close to a hospital and schools as well as the Indian consulate. “This is a highly symbolic attack as the Pakistani consulate is a high-profile installation in Jalalabad”.
Pakistani government properties have come under attack in the past during protests by Afghans angry at Islamabad’s perceived support for the Taliban, who have waged war on the Kabul administration for more than 14 years.
Pakistan is widely believed to support the Taliban through its security service, though Islamabad denies the claim.
The attack, which comes amid efforts to restart the stalled peace process with the Taleban and ease diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan, resembled an assault on the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif last week. Nangarhar is the stronghold of the Islamic State’s so-called Khorosan branch, which has fought against both the Afghan government and the Taliban.
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A school girl falls as she and others run after a blast near the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Wednesday. Helmand is the source of opium that produces most of the world’s heroin and provides an important funding source for the insurgency.
