The four-hour siege near the consulate comes amid renewed international efforts to revive peace talks with the Taliban, locked in a tussle for supremacy with Islamic State jihadists in Afghanistan. In an Arabic statement released via Twitter, the IS group said two of its fighters blew themselves up at the scene by detonating explosive belts, while a third managed to escape unharmed. "The attack lasted almost four hours during which the consulate building was destroyed and tens of its employees were killed together with a number of officers from the apostate Pakistani intelligence services," the statement said. The toll appeared to be exaggerated, with Islamabad saying officials at the consulate itself are safe and accounted for. The brazen assault sent terrified young students in an adjacent school fleeing the area, which is also close to the Indian diplomatic mission. "This is first attack claimed by IS against the state of Pakistan," Muhammad Amir Rana, a Pakistani security analyst, told AFP.
"This is a highly symbolic attack as the Pakistani consulate is a high-profile installation in Jalalabad." There was no immediate comment on the IS group's claim from Islamabad. In a statement earlier Wednesday, Pakistan's foreign office "strongly condemned" the attack on its consulate. "The government of Afghanistan has been requested to thoroughly investigate this incident and bring the culprits to book," the Pakistani government said in a statement. "We have requested that details of the investigation should be shared with us."