Afghan forces battle gunmen after blast near Pakistani consulate

Four more Afghan security personnel died in the ensuing two-hour gunbattle before the attackers were killed.

The area around the Pakistani consulate has been sealed off following the suicide attack, police told Reuters, adding that there may be casualties from the blast.

“The terrorists behind Jalalabad attack today are exactly the type of enemies & spoilers we all need [to] identify & oppose [with] all means available”, the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Janan Mosazai, said on Twitter.

The Narendra Modi government also thanked Afghanistan for strengthening security around the main embassy building in Kabul and Indian missions in other main Afghan cities, like Jalalabad, Herat, Kandhar and Mazar-e-Sharif. The schools were evacuated, officials said.

The concerned authorities in Kabul have claimed that some Pakistani military officers were involved in the recent attack on the Indian Consulate.

Indian interests have been targeted twice this month in spectacular assaults – an attack on the consulate in Afghanistan’s Mazar-i-Sharif, and a raid by Islamist insurgents on an air force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

The blast took place a few days after Pakistan hosted the first meeting of Quadrilateral Contact Group in Islamabad, aiming at to finding out ways to end militancy in the Afghanistan and bring stability.

The attack is the latest in spate of violence since the start of 2016, which is predicted to be a tough year for Afghanistan, where insurgents are expected to escalate violence in order to enter into any peace negotiations from a position of strength. “We strongly condemn the terrorist attack on the Consulate General of Pakistan in Jalalabad, this morning”.

The attack occurred 200 metres from the Consulate, an area populatedd by many foreign missions.

No group has claimed responsibility.

One Afghan security personnel lost his life and nine others, including three civilians, were wounded in the attack.

“The operation lasted nearly four hours, during which time the consulate building was destroyed and dozens of diplomatic staff and Pakistani intelligence officials were killed”, it said. PM Nawaz said terrorism was a common enemy for the two countries, which will be fought against together to eliminate it once and for all. Several warning shots were also fired by the security forces.

The spike in violence came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a surprise visit to Pakistan last month, after the nuclear-armed rivals announced they would resume high-level peace talks.