Daesh** has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack at the Pakistani diplomatic mission in Kabul on Friday.
The statement claimed that two terrorists armed with sniper rifles and other weapons carried out the attack, in which a Pakistani guard posted at the diplomatic premises sustained bullet injuries to his chest. The injured security personnel is currently recuperating from his wounds, as per Islamabad.
The attack has been described by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as a “dastardly assassination attempt” on Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, Islamabad’s Head of Mission in Kabul. Nizamani escaped the bid because of the security guard who took a bullet to his chest to save the life of the diplomat, Sharif has said.
The terrorist attack has been condemned by the Taliban as well.
During a telephone call between Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Afghanistan’s Interim Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban diplomat assured Islamabad that “the perpetrators of this heinous attack will be brought to justice swiftly.”
According to the Pakistani foreign ministry, Zardari cautioned Muttaqi that the Taliban “must prevent the terrorists from undermining relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
The United Nations (UN) Security Council has also condemned the attack.
In a statement released on Friday, the 15-member Security Council comprising the five permanent UN states also called upon the Taliban to ensure safety and security of foreign diplomatic missions and consulates operating in Afghanistan, in line with the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Pakistan is one of the few UN member states to maintain a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan since Kabul was taken over by the Taliban in August 2021. However, like all the other UN states, Islamabad is yet to officially recognize the Taliban government.
*Taliban is under UN sanctions over terrorist activities.
**Daesh, also known as ISIS/IS/Islamic States is a terrorist group banned in many countries, including Russia.