Pakistani consulate staffer killed in Afghanistan's Jalalabad
Unidentified assailants have shot dead an employee of the Pakistan consulate in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, officials say.
The incident occurred in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Monday, when two gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire on Nayyar Iqbl Rana who had gone shopping without a security detail.
"When he went to the hospital he was pronounced dead," said Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, Zahid Nasrullah, adding that he had "absolutely no idea" why Rana had been targeted.
The Pakistani diplomat worked in the visa section at the consulate and as an assistant to the consul general in Jalalabad, the capital of restive Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan.
Nangarhar governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani confirmed the deadly attack.
"Police have launched an investigation into the incident. No arrests have been made so far,” he said.
The motive behind the deadly assault was not immediately clear and no group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the killing.
The incident comes a few months after two Pakistani diplomats working at the same consulate in Jalalabad were kidnapped and later freed.
Various Afghan militant groups have abducted or targeted Pakistani diplomats in the past.
Kabul and Islamabad regularly accuse each other of sheltering hostile militants and not doing enough to stop militants engaging in cross-border raids. Both sides, however, deny such an allegation.
Afghanistan has been gripped by insecurity since the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror in 2001. Many parts of the country remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops.
During the past 16 years, Taliban militants have been conducting attacks across the country, killing and displacing civilians.
In addition, the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, which is mainly active in Syria and Iraq, has recently managed to take recruits from Afghan Taliban defectors. Militants are now launching attacks on both Pakistani and Afghan soil.
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