Pakistan hopes attack on Kabul embassy to be thoroughly probed

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday said it was in active contact with the Afghan authorities on the matter of attack on Pakistani Embassy in Kabul, expressing confidence that the matter would be fully investigated, ARY News reported.

In a statement, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the foreign office was in active contact with the Afghan authorities on the matter

“We are confident that the terrorist attack targeting our Head of Mission in Kabul, will be fully investigated and the perpetrators and their abettors will be brought to account,” she added.

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch further said that Pakistan remained resolute in its commitment to fight the scourge of terrorism.

Earlier in the day, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, on his Twitter handle, claimed that Taliban authorities had arrested a foreign operative of the Islamic State terrorist group for allegedly carrying out last week’s assassination attempt on Pakistan’s top diplomat in Kabul.

Read More: Pakistani envoy returns home days after assassination attempt in Kabul

A day earlier, Islamic State (IS) Khorasan Province claimed responsibility for an attack on Pakistan’s embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul, a statement carried by one of the militant group’s affiliated channels on Telegram said.

IS claimed the attack was carried by two of its members armed with “medium and sniper weapons” and was targeting the ambassador and his guards who were present at the courtyard of the embassy.

Read more: UNSC condemns attack on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul

The attack injured at least one guard and caused damage to the building, the group said.

It may be noted here a gun attack was carried out at a time when Chargé d’Affaires to Afghanistan Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani was walking in the garden of Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul.

An embassy official said a lone attacker “came behind the cover of houses and started firing,” but that the ambassador and other staff were safe.

The Afghan Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and added, “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will not allow any malicious actors to pose a threat to the security of diplomatic missions in Kabul.”