‘Assassination attempt’ on Pakistan envoy in Afghan capital | News

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Attacker failed to harm the Pakistani diplomat, but shot and wounded his security guard outside its mission in Kabul.

An “assassination attempt” targeted Pakistan’s top diplomat in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s prime minister said, as tensions between the neighbouring countries simmer.

The head of mission, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, was the target of an attack on its embassy compound, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Friday.

“I strongly condemn dastardly assassination attempt on Pakistan Head of Mission, Kabul,” Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Twitter.

The attacker failed to harm the Pakistani diplomat, but shot and wounded his security guard, Sharif added. No immediate confirmation on the security guard’s condition was available.

“I demand immediate investigation & action against perpetrators of this heinous act,” Sharif tweeted.

An embassy official said a lone attacker “came behind the cover of houses and started firing”.

“The ambassador and all the other staff are safe, but we are not going outside of the embassy building as a precaution,” he said.

Nizamani arrived in Kabul last month to take up the role at one of the few embassies that had remained operational throughout the period after the Taliban took over the country in August 2021.

A spokesperson for the Taliban’s ministry of foreign affairs denounced the attack.

“Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns the attempted shooting and failed attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul,” said spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi on Twitter.

The shooting comes a day after Pakistan’s government demanded Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers prevent attacks coming from their soil.

The Pakistani Taliban, who are allied with their namesake’s across the border, claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing earlier in the week in southwestern Pakistan that sent a wave of shock and anger across the nation.