IS suspect held for Pak embassy attack

Islamabad, December 5

A member of the militant Islamic State group has been arrested in last week’s shooting attack targeting the Pakistani embassy in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul, the spokesman of the Taliban government said.

The attack, in which shots were fired at the embassy from a nearby building, triggered anger in Pakistan, and increased tensions between the two neighbours.

Meanwhile, ambassador Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani arrived here on Monday, three days after being targeted by unidentified gunmen while taking a walk in the Pakistan embassy compound in Kabul.

Nizamani was saved by his guard who was critically injured in the attack claimed by the Islamic State Khorasan chapter (IS) terror group.

The regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province and a rival of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, had claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack.

The Islamic State group said two of its fighters attacked “the renegade Pakistani ambassador and his guards” while they were inside the embassy’s yard. The statement gave no further details.

The chief spokesman for the Taliban government, Zabihullah Mujahid, announced the arrest of a suspect in a tweet Monday. — AP