Islamabad: The Daesh (Islamic State) terror group claimed responsibility for an attack on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul, which Islamabad decried as an “assassination attempt”.
A security guard was wounded in the attack on Friday in the Afghan capital.
Pakistan’s foreign office said on Sunday it had seen the reports of Daesh’s claim of responsibility.
“Independently and in consultation with the Afghan authorities, we are verifying the veracity of these reports,” it said in a statement, adding the attack was a reminder of the risk militant activity posed to the region.
“We must act resolutely with all our collective might to defeat this menace,” the foreign office said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called tha attack “an assassination attempt” on the head of the mission, and demanded an investigation.
A Kabul police spokesman said one suspect had been arrested and two light weapons seized after security forces swept a nearby building.
Although Pakistan does not officially recognise Afghanistan’s Taliban government, it kept its embassy open, and maintains a full diplomatic mission.
An embassy official told AFP a lone attacker “came behind the cover of houses and started firing”, but that the ambassador and other staff were safe.
A spokesman for Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said they strongly condemned the “failed attack”.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will not allow any malicious actors to pose a threat to the security of diplomatic missions in Kabul,” it said in a statement, vowing to find and punish those responsible.
Pakistan is home to more than a million Afghan refugees, and the porous border they share is frequently the scene of clashes.
Since returning to power, the Afghan Taliban have insisted they would not allow foreign militant groups to operate from home soil.
