Kabul: Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul came under attack last week with gunfire injuring a Pakistani security guard, officials said, in what Islamabad called a bid to assassinate its head of mission, who was unhurt. In a separate attack in the Afghan capital, one person was killed in a suicide bombing near the office of the Hezb-e-Islami party of former PM Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the embassy attack, which came just days after Pakistan’s foreign minister led a team to Kabul to meet Taliban authorities to ease tensions along the border between the two countries. According to two sources, the embassy compound was targeted by gunfire from a nearby building. It was unclear how many shooters there were or if they had been apprehended.
A spokesperson for the Taliban foreign ministry condemned the attack. The attack occurred at a time of heightened security concerns in areas bordering Afghanistan after the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) said it would no longer abide by a months-long ceasefire with the Pakistani government. The Afghan Taliban have been facilitating peace talks between local militants and Pakistan authorities since late last year.
