JALALABAD: The Islamic State (Daesh) terrorist groupclaimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the Pakistaniconsulate in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday thatwas followed by a deadly gun battle lasting several hours.
Afghan officials said all three attackers and at least sevenmembers of the security forces died during the attack
The attack, which comes amid efforts to restart the stalled peace process with the Taliban 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, the province in which Jalalabad is located, hasbecome the main Afghan stronghold of Islamic State (IS), which
has battled the Taliban for leadership of the insurgency.
Witnesses in Jalalabad, the main trade gateway to the Khyber Pass and Pakistan, said heavy gunfire and a series of explosions could be heard during the battle and residents and children from a nearby school were evacuated.
Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said a suicide bomber had tried to join a queue of people seeking visas to Pakistan and blew himself up after being prevented from entering the building.
The Islamic State (Deash) group said on its official Telegram messagingservice channel that three members wearing suicide-bomb vestscarried out the attack.It claimedtwo suicide attackers had been killed while a thirdescaped.
Pakistan's Foreign Office confirmed thatall members of theconsulate staff were safe, with one official slightly injured by
broken glass.
Last week, a group of attackers barricaded themselves in a house and resisted security forces for about 24 hours after a suicide attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif.
A rare meeting between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan had been tentatively scheduled for later this week, but it is unclear if it would still happen.
Delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States also met this week to try to resurrect efforts to end nearly 15 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan, even as fighting with the Taliban intensifies.
In Pakistan on Wednesday, at least 15 people were killed in a blast near a polio vaccination centre in Quetta.