Pakistan hopes Kabul attackers will be thoroughly probed

Arrested attacker found to be a member of ISIS, working with ‘rebels’

The Foreign Office on Monday said that they remained in active contact with the Afghan authorities on the matter of a terrorist attack on Pakistan’s Head of Mission in Kabul and expressed the confidence that it would be fully investigated and the perpetrators and their abettors would be brought to account.

Responding to media queries regarding remarks reportedly made by Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement that it was an ongoing investigation and they were closely following it. “Pakistan remains resolute in our commitment to fight the scourge of terrorism,” she further added. According to media reports, 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.

Mujahid claimed in a statement, citing initial investigations, that Friday’s gun assault on Nizamani in Kabul was plotted with the aim of sowing distrust with Islamabad. He wrote on Twitter the detainee “is a foreign country national and a member of Daesh.” He used a local name for ISIS-K but did not say what country the suspect was from. “Some foreign groups are behind the attack and the intention was to create distrust between the two brotherly countries,” Mujahid said. He added the investigation into the shooting incident was continuing and promised to share future details later. The spokesman asserted that the assault was jointly planned by ISIS-K and anti-Taliban forces.

Officials said Nizamani was on a routine afternoon walk inside the embassy compound when gunmen opened fire on him from a nearby building. He escaped unhurt, but his Pakistani security guard Sepoy Israr Muhammad was hit in the chest and both legs by bullets.

Separately, the FO said Pakistani Chargé d’Affaires Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani is in the country on a prescheduled visit for consultations. Nizamani had remained unhurt in a terrorist attack on Pakistan’s Embassy in Kabul on Friday. Pakistan on Saturday had summoned the Afghan Charge d’Affaires to convey Pakistan’s deep concern and anguish over the attack.

It may be mentioned here that the ISIS-K has stepped up high-profile bombings and other terrorist attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power last year. The violence has killed top Taliban clerics and hundreds of members of the minority Shia community. The terrorist group also claimed responsibility for a September suicide bombing near the Russian Embassy in Kabul that killed two Russian staff and four Afghan visitors.

No country has yet recognized the Taliban’s rule, but Islamabad has boosted its economic and trade partnership with Kabul to help it deal with the dire humanitarian and financial challenges facing Afghanistan.