Another blast in Jalalabad, Afghanistan as Taliban peace talks continue

The attack began about 8 a.m. when a suicide bomber targeted a police vehicle outside the Jalalabad consulate, clearing the way for two assailants to enter a building next to the compound, according to Atta Ullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the Nangahar governor.

Tolo News reported that a consulate staff member, three children and seven police officials are also among those injured, but Pakistani Foreign Office Spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said that all Pakistanis working at the consulate were safe.

The blast came ten days after 25-hour gun and bomb siege took place near the Indian consulate in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Afghan officials said all three attackers and at least seven members of the security forces died during the attack.

The gunmen were holed up in an empty guesthouse near the consulate, with Afghan forces trying to close in on the facility amid a heavy exchange of fire, the ministry said in a statement.

When security guards fired back, the gunmen fled scattering leaflets in which responsibility was claimed by “Islamic State Wilayah Khurasan” – the terrorist group’s “Khurasan” regional branch.

Police say, area around Pakistan consulate in Nangarhar province has been sealed off after the suicide attack. The schools were evacuated, officials said.

In a similar attack in the restive Helmand provincial capital Lashkar Gah, 555 km south of Kabul, on the same day, three lives including the attacker were killed, a local official said on the condition of anonymity.

Police officials ensured their efforts to track down, identify and detain those who assisted the attackers gain access to the building were underway.

The latest in a series of suicide attacks in Afghanistan comes amid renewed efforts to restart peace talks with the Taliban and ease diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan.

Speaking in Islamabad shortly after the consulate attack, Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Janan Moosazai, warned that Islamic State poses a potentially devastating threat to both countries.

An Indian Air Force base in Pathankot was also attacked on January 2 by six terrorists believed to be Pakistani.

The attack underscores obstacles faced by Afghan, American, Chinese and Pakistani officials, who met in Islamabad on Monday to discuss a proposed second round of peace talks with the Taliban.

At least 14 people were killed in a blast near a polio vaccination centre in the southwestern city of Quetta in Pakistan today.